CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Ahead of his second season as head coach at Robert C. Byrd, Austin Scott felt the Eagles were capable of being much improved from their 3-7 mark a year ago.
“I told the guys I thought we were better and they had to go show it,” Scott said. “You can talk all you want, but you have to go show it.”
Show it is precisely what the Eagles did Thursday night in their season opener against Keyser.
Sophomore quarterback Junior Smith rushed for 248 yards and four touchdowns on 13 carries, while completing all three of his passes for 57 yards and a touchdown to key RCB to a 48-7 victory over the Golden Tornado.
Smith gained valuable experience as a freshman in 2023 before suffering an injury near the midway point of the regular season that sidelined him the rest of the way. In his debut as a sophomore, the signal-caller was electric throughout.
While the Eagles’ first drive stalled in the red zone as a result of a high snap that led to Keyser’s Dominik Crawford recovering a fumble, it hardly mattered. Scott’s team immediately forced a three-and-out to get the ball back, and on the first play of the second series, Smith outran the Golden Tornado for a 59-yard touchdown.
“Last year we lost 28-0 [to Keyser] and we wanted to get our revenge, take a step forward and move on to get ready for next week,” Smith said.
Stratten Wooddell knocked in his first of six point-after kicks to leave the home team with a 7-0 advantage 5:21 into play.
Keyser’s Cole Holland lost a fumble that was recovered by the Eagles’ James McMillion later in the first quarter, and it directly led to Smith’s 44-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Chipps and a 14-0 lead at the 1:40 mark of the opening quarter. However, that scoring strike came following four RCB penalties on the series, including two that negated earlier touchdowns.
Flags were about the only negative for the Eagles as they entered halftime with nine penalties for 85 yards.
“The penalties are definitely something we have to clean up,” Scott said. “When we go against some better teams we’ll face with a tough schedule, that stuff just can’t happen.”
The Eagles forced a second KHS punt on the visitors’ third possession, then traveled 80 yards in six plays and gained a 21-0 lead on Smith’s 37-yard touchdown run 8:04 before halftime.
“They’re a tough opponent and a quality program. These guys understood that and a lot of these guys have lost to them for three years,” Scott said. “They knew exactly what to expect and we just had to go show it.”
A 12-yard touchdown run from tailback Latrell Jones upped the RCB advantage to 28-0, and that’s where things stood at halftime — an intermission that would last more than 1 hour as a result of a lightning delay.
“Just a crazy week with the heat and we couldn’t really practice yesterday, so that was kind of a challenge for a short week anyway,” Scott said. “We came off a tough scrimmage last week, then we get here and play, and then we have a lightning delay. Some crazy injuries happened, but these guys were relentless and wanted to go play.“
Smith added third-quarter touchdown runs of 52 and 19 yards, respectively, the latter of which left the Eagles leading 41-0 with 1:14 remaining in the third quarter.
“They can make magic happen,” Scott said of his team’s primary skill players. “Up front, we’re improving week and those guys really got moving and led the way. As long as they can do that, those guys in the backfield are going to make stuff happen.”
On the ensuing kickoff, McMillion suffered an injury that left him on the playing surface for an extended time. Emergency medical services personnel checked on McMillion, who was eventually taken off the field in an ambulance after a delay of approximately 20 minutes.
Scott offered a positive update on one of the Eagles’ captains afterward.
“I think he’s going to be OK. He was moving everything, breathing just fine and making jokes,” Scott said. “The biggest thing he was concerned about was playing next week and that tells you what type of guy he is. I’ll probably go see him later tonight.”
The teams agreed to play an 8-minute fourth quarter with a running clock, and during it, Eagles’ freshman Isaac Barksdale rushed for a 29-yard touchdown, before Keyser avoided being shutout on a late 25-yard touchdown run from Matthew Furey.
Keyser was limited to 116 total yards and played the majority of the contest without Tristen Root, who began the game as the team’s top quarterback, but suffered an injury playing defense during the first quarter.
Jones added 107 rushing yards on 15 carries. The Eagles finished with 452 total yards, including 395 on the ground.
“We can dominate. A lot of people underestimate us because of what happened last year,” Smith said, “but we’re older, stronger and we’ve been in the gym more.”