MURRAY — East Union scored 30 points in the first quarter on its way to a 60-0 win over Murray during Friday evening's homecoming game.
Matthew Wittstock took the opening kickoff back 70 yards for a touchdown, getting the Eagles into a groove early.
Murray fumbled on its first play from scrimmage setting up the Eagles with another prime opportunity that they converted for another six points to go up 14-0 just over three minutes into the game.
The Mustang offense struggled with turnover issues, but showed signs of life on a few drives.
Murray was able to work misdirection plays for multiple gains of five or more yards. Freshman tailback Chance Lecy finished with 13 yards on three carries.
Murray's leading rusher Devin Slaughter was knocked out of the game early with an injury following getting tackled out of bounds on a kick off return.
"We're asking a lot of these guys and we've just got to keep working," said Head Coach Taylor Fulton. "The option did have its moments so did the misdirection. We are getting better."
Matthew Wittstock led the way on the ground with 149 yards on 15 carries and punching in three touchdowns. Wittstock was one of nine East Union players to take at least one carry on the night.
"You can see how he can go through and make some pretty good cuts and read the ball in the field as far as his blocking," said co-Head Coach James Hardy. "(Wittstock) does a nice job of getting down the field."
The Eagles offensive line opened up holes for and allowed Wittstock and others to run free.
"A lot of that is making line adjustments and when we start to do that things start to click for us," said Hardy.
Sanden Cheers and Matt McGuire both tossed touchdown passes to Colton Abell and Dillion Weis, respectively.
Cheers completed three passes while adding 22 yards rushing to his stat line. McGuire ran for 24 yards and a touchdown on top of his lone completion.
Murray, who is starting the same eight players on both sides of the ball, is still trying to figure out how to insert its younger players for repetitions.
"We are going to keep trying to integrate the younger guys, but we're a young and inexperienced team so we just have to keep working at it," said Fulton.
East Union (3-0, 1-0) will face Baxter at home for its homecoming night next week. Murray (0-4, 0-1) will travel to take on the Lenox Tigers.
East Union 60, Murray 0
EU 30 16 6 8 - 60
Mur 0 0 0 0 - 0
1st quarter
EU — Matthew Wittstock 70 kick off return (2-pt no good).
EU – McGuire 2 run (2-pt good).
EU – Abell 18 pass from Cheers (2-pt good).
EU – Martinez fumble recovery in end zone (2-pt good).
2nd quarter
EU — Wittstock 13 run (2-pt good).
EU — Wittstock 42 run (2-pt good).
3rd quarter
EU — Weis 5 pass from McGuire (2-pt no good).
4th quarter
EU — Wittstock 24 run (2-pt good).
Individual leaders
Rushing: EU — Matthew Wittstock 15-149, 3TD, Joshua Hardy 5-27, Matt McGuire 4-24 1TD, Jarryn Stephens 4-24, Sanden Cheers 4-22, Gavin Kline 3-17, Kanyon Huntington 3-6, Kole Seales 1-4, Alex Carrigan 1-3. Mur - Josh Webb 9-13, Chance Lecy 3-13, Jeran Cosner 5-1, Trayvon Brown 4-0, Reece Held 10-(-3).
Passing: EU - Cheers 3-5-0 for 19 yards 1 TD, McGuire 1-4-0 for 5 yards, Augustin McNiell 0-1-1. Mur - Reece Held 1-5-0 for 9 yards, Josh Webb 0-4-0.
Receiving: EU — Colton Abell 2-16 1TD, Dillion Weis 2-8 1TD. Mur - Webb 1-9.
Tackles (solo-assists): EU — Tate Kerrigan 5-4, Hardy 4-4, Seales 3-4, Cheers 3-2, Braydon Martinez 2-1, Ethan Ayers 2-1, Levi Exline 0-4, Colton Mitchell 1-2, Abell 1-1, Matthew Lamaak 1-1, Brady Reese, 1-1, Garrett Skarda 0-3, Weis 0-3, McGuire 1-0, Guage Mitchell 0-2, Evan Collins 0-1, Levi Parrott 0-1, Wittstock 0-1. Mur — Lecy 5-5, J. Cosner, 4-2, Webb 3-3, Rilee Werner 3-3, Keegan Johnson 2-3, Kris Davis 2-1, Wyatt Meyers 1-1, Devin Slaughter 0-1, Aden Cosner 0-1.
Tackles for loss: EU - Martinez 1, Mitchell 1, Seales 1. Mur - Webb 3, Myers 1, J. Cosner 1.
Fumble recoveries: EU - Martinez 1. Mur - None.