Last season’s matchup between Central Methodist and William Penn was decided by mother nature, as the teams tied 7-7 in a game ended early by thunderstorms.

This season, the game was decided by a 2-point conversion with four minutes left.

Mar’Quess Daniels made a tackle in the backfield on the key play and CMU held on for a 14-12 win on homecoming day.

Daniels said that they had seen that formation throughout the game.

“We as a defense had been seeing the ‘A’ gap open up, and I said, ‘hey coach, send me up the ‘A’ gap.’ I felt like I could make the play.

“As a defense, we pulled it off. We stood up and we had a great stand and denied the 2-point conversion.”

The Eagles and Statesmen had spent 364 days tied at 7-7 after lightning delays ended the last meeting in the second quarter, so it was fitting that the teams were still tied 0-0 heading into the locker rooms at halftime.

After a scoreless first half, it was also fitting that the first points would come from the defense.

Daniels forced a bad pitch by the quarterback on the option and Khari Henley scooped up the ball. Henley, who scored on a 92-yard fumble return last week, had the ball knocked loose as he extended it over the goal line, but there was no need for a review. Jory Maddox jumped on the ball and Central Methodist took a 7-0 lead.

“We were just running to the ball, trying to make a play,” Henley said. “I just saw the ball on the ground and tried to make a play where I could.”

Henley finished with five tackles and a tackle for loss. 

The Eagles recovered two fumbles and blocked a 47-yard field goal attempt at the end of the first half.  They held William Penn to 4-13 on third down and 0-3 on fourth down. 

“All week in practice we preached about staying focused,” Henley said. “Staying focused on our keys, making sure we were disciplined in what we were doing.”

A 29-yard carry from Shawn Simmons flipped field position in the Eagles’ favor and after the teams traded punts Central Methodist had the ball on the Statesmen 36-yard line. Jalen Brown completed a pass to Treyvon Hards for 29 yards, and then found Katavious Taylor for the touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

Hards caught three passes for 106 yards and Brown completed 17 of 31 passes for 235 yards.

Running back Ben Sherman had the bulk of the yards for William Penn, picking up 194 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. The rest of the team had 69 yards on the ground and 37 through the air.

“We tried to limit them to as few options as possible,” Daniels said about facing the triple-option offense. “We attacked the QB asap. We didn’t allow him to make a decision, he had no choice but to give it. We turned the triple-option game into a one option or double option.”

Daniels finished with five tackles, a sack, and a fumble recovery. London Chambers led the Eagle defense with 10 tackles and a sack. Erik Mays made five tackles, including two in the backfield for a loss of 17 yards. 

After having 14 penalties for 128 yards in the season-opener, the Eagles had eight penalties for 46 yards against William Penn. Central Methodist won the turnover battle 2-0.

Coach David Calloway said that the team was prepared because of film study during the week.

“Our kids did a good job of that,” he said. “(William Penn) had two weeks to prepare so they came out with some things that we haven’t seen. Once we made our adjustments, in the second half they came out and made some adjustments that kind of got them back in the game. “But our kids kept fighting there at the end. That was the biggest thing, guys just fighting.”

The Eagles (2-0) are back on the road next week, visiting Peru State (0-1) for homecoming at 2:00.