Down 13-7 with one second left in the first half, Colby Phillips gave the SoBoCo Eagles a huge lift with a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

But the Pintos came back on their first drive in the third quarter to re-take the lead at 19-14. After the Eagles got a fourth down stop by linebacker Tanner Smith, SoBoCo got a fourth-and-three, 41-yard Spencer Taggart-to-Zane Safely TD pass and run play that put the Eagles ahead for good 20-19.

SoBoCo steamrolled the Pintos in the fourth quarter, scoring four times on their way to a 48-25 Tri-County Conference win.

“I think this is the first comeback we’ve had since I’ve been here,” said coach Trent Tracy. “We keep telling the kids to not worry about the scoreboard, just play each play and they did that tonight.”

The Eagles struggled in the first half – but took the one-point lead to the locker room with two kickoff returns for TDs. Jackson Sartain took the opening kick 95 yards right up the middle for a score. After the Pintos took the lead with 1.8 seconds left before half, Phillips took the kickoff, followed a crushing block by Seth Mueller, angled towards the sidelines and out-ran the Pintos to the end zone.

After the Pintos took the lead early in the third quarter, the Eagles offense kicked into gear and the defense began creating some turnovers.

After Safely’s score, the Eagles fell on a Pintos fumble and on first down from the Pintos 46, Sartain went around the right side for a score to make it 27-10.

After a 3-and-out by the Pintos, Taggart hit Clay Jeffery on a third-and-seven pass for 54-yards and another score. Taggart’s pass was behind Jeffery, however, the senior receiver came back for the ball, then faked his way past the defender for the score.

“It wasn’t my best pass, but Clay did a good job getting back to the ball,” Taggart said. “My receivers did a great job all night getting open and getting to the ball.”

After Phillips recovered another Pintos fumble, Taggart found Kolton Schupp open in the left corner of the end zone on fourth down for an 18-yard TD pass play.

For his final TD, Taggart hit Sam Stichnote for a 14-yard TD pass in the middle of the end zone. Stichnote found a seam in the Pintos coverage and was all alone in the end zone.

SoBoCo is now 5-2 with games at Versailles and Warsaw to complete the season. Wins in those two games will assure the Eagles a home game in the first round of the playoffs.