Del Sol’s Eamon ends Basic’s dream season

By Jared Harmon

Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008 | 1:59 a.m.

For the second straight game, Del Sol running back Derek Eamon scored five touchdowns to help the Dragons advance in the postseason.

Eamon, a senior, collected 412 rushing yards to lift the Dragons to a 42-27 win over Basic on Friday and send Del Sol to its third straight Sunrise Regional finals appearance against Las Vegas High.

"When I scored five times last week I thought that was a once in a season kind of thing," Eamon said. "I had no idea I'd be able to do something like that again against another good team. But, when the offensive line plays like they did, they make it easy. All I had to do was take the ball and run straight."

Eamon scored twice in the first quarter on runs of one and 17 yards, respectively, and Basic was unable to overcome the deficit.

"Derek played another outstanding game," Del Sol coach Preston Goroff said. "After a while what can you say about the kid — he's a stud. But the offensive line played well, too. Whenever a back picks up that many yards you know the line was working hard. They deserve a lot of credit."

While the majority of the Dragons roster is used to preparing for a regional championship game, Eamon — a transfer from Coronado — is entering uncharted territory. With the Cougars, Eamon never made it further than the regional quarterfinals.

"This is all new to me so it's real exciting," Eamon said. "The rest of these guys know what it takes to head into a big game like this so I'm going to rely on them. I'm thankful for the coaches and my teammates and the opportunity to play in a big game like this."

While the Dragons look ahead to their game at Las Vegas High on Nov. 21, Basic's season has come to a close.

In his first year as head coach, Jeff Cahill lead the Wolves to a Southeast Division Championship. He sees this year as the beginning of big things.

"This loss hurts but it doesn't diminish what we accomplished this year," Cahill said. "This group of seniors meant everything to this program. They got behind me 100 percent and that meant a lot. They propelled this team along. But, there's no reason we can't keep this going. This team took some big steps this year."

The Wolves went down fighting in their final game as senior quarterback Robby Faiman completed 21 of 35 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns. The bulk of those yards, 142, went to senior receiver Justin Burdno on 12 catches.

"I thought our season was a success," Burdno said. "It's tough to go out with a loss like this but we had a very good year. We won the city championship. We won the Henderson Bowl. I'm glad we got to have a year like this my senior year."

Jared Harmon can be reached at 990-8922 or jared.harmon@hbcpub.com.