CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Northeast Eagles traveled to Fort Campbell High School for a matchup with the Falcons on Tuesday night. In the first quarter, the two teams went toe-to-toe, but due to an outstanding effort on the boards, the Eagles were able to pull away in the second quarter, and they never relinquished their lead, winning 74-49.

The two teams went blow for blow in the first quarter, with Northeast’s Peyton Smith having eight points in the first eight minutes, while Fort Campbell’s Kingston Murton and Kyre Ferguson had six each in the same time frame. At the end of the first, it was tied at 18-18.

However, when the second quarter began, the Eagles crashed the offensive glass with eight offensive rebounds to Fort Campbell’s none, which created a number of second-chance opportunities and allowed them to pull ahead 37-25 by the half.

“We persevered through a slow start,” Eagles head coach Ivard Brimley told Clarksville Now. “We’ve always said that we need to be 10 to 12 players deep, and that allows our guys to go as hard as possible when they’re in the game, and make those extra hustle plays, and that paid dividends tonight.”

The Falcons didn’t go down quietly, fighting back to within 11 by the end of the third, but the fourth quarter was all Eagles, as they held Fort Campbell to only two made field goals, while scoring 10 of their own to win 74-49.

The Eagles outrebounded the Falcons 43-32, while the scoring for Northeast was led by sophomore guard Destin Jones with 16 points. For Fort Campbell, they can take this loss with a grain of salt, as it was their season opener, and they’re still building chemistry.

“We played well for a quarter and a half, but just got lackadaisical with the ball and turned it over too many times,” said Fort Campbell head coach Austin Byrum. “We put ourselves in a hole and couldn’t dig out. We’re simply trying to learn from one another as a team, and grow and get better as we progress this year.”

As for Northeast, it’s the first time they’ve won back-to-back games since Brimley became head coach, and they’ll look to continue to build on this momentum with two more games remaining this week.

“Wins have been hard to come by since I’ve been here, so we will celebrate this one, but get back to work tomorrow,” said Brimley.” We must remain calm and focused and be committed to continually changing the way people perceive this program.”

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