OXFORD — Heading into its Week 3 game at Talawanda, fast starts have been a key to Eaton’s football team opening the season the season with wins over Greenville and Richmond (Ind.).

Against the Brave, Eaton used that same formula to move to 3-0 on the season with a convincing 28-7 win on Friday, Sept. 6.

The Eagles rushed for nearly 250 yards for the game and got out to a 14-0 first quarter lead before settling in to get the win.

Eaton put points on the board on its first drive on the game when senior Cordis Berard (14 carries, 73 yards) scored on a 2-yard touchdown run with 8:16 left in the quarter.

A 16-yard pass from Aaron Rogers to Connor Bach (3 catches, 30 yards) extended the Eagles lead to 14-0 with 1:15 remaining in the first quarter.

Brycen Simpson (13 carries, 75 yards) made it a 21-0 game with 8:01 left in the second quarter with a 6-yard TD run.

Rogers and Bach connected a second time with 4:21 left in the third, on a 10-yard TD pass to make it a 28-0 game.

The Brave’s lone score was a 35-yard touchdown pass with 6:51 left in the game.

“The first half was really, really good. Again, as we’ve done, we started pretty hot. We got off to a fast start,” Eaton coach Brad Davis said. “Great opening drive. Marched it down the field on them, punched it in, and then got a three and out. So great start. Did the same a second drive.”

Davis said he believes his team still has room to grow and he would like to see them put together a solid four quarters.

“Same old story with us, in a way. We came out just a little flat in a second,” Davis said. “They played harder than we did a little bit at times in the second half, which we didn’t love to see. We got to be able to put together a complete game. That is where our focus is going to now lie for this upcoming week. But we made plays when we needed to.”

Brandon Couch led the team with eight tackles.

Gavin Winings had seven, including a key play in stopping a fake punt.

“Gavin Winings had a fantastic game,” Davis said. “He was the second leading tackler behind Brandon (Couch). He sniffed out a fake punt attempt by them, the quarterback’s their punter and he just tried to run it and Gavin did a great job with that. He was our Special Forces player of the game for that.”

Presley Stewart added seven tackles and Dylan Gamble contributed six.

Preston Orr added three sacks.

“Defensively, we thought we could put pressure on them,” Davis said. “We thought we had an athletic advantage with our defensive line (against) their offensive line. So, our game plan was to try to throw as much pressure at their offense and try to mix up our coverages. And for the most part, we did a good job with that. A couple of blown assignments here and there. One was the touchdown. We were in a cover zero look and just miscommunication. One saw one thing and one saw another. But that’s going to happen when you’re going high risk, high reward, but overall, pretty pleased. So, mission accomplished in terms of what we wanted to do defensively.

Eaton will begin divisional play on Friday when its host Oakwood (2-1).

Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowenjr.