Ending the unprecedented 54-game win streak of Edgewood Academy was too tall of an order for the Fort Dale Academy Eagles as they fell to the Wildcats 49-0.

And though there were no points to show at the end of the night, it certainly wasn’t for lack of effort, according to Fort Dale head football coach James “Speed” Sampley.

Ryan Burkett was moved to quarterback for the night in Austin Vickery’s stead, but Burkett himself received an injury near the end of the first half and was taken out.

The disrupted rhythm all but ended the Eagles’ productivity.

“We moved the ball pretty well the first half, but we couldn’t ever score,” Sampley said.

“We played without some folks, and Ryan got hurt again in the first half.  We just couldn’t get the ball in the end zone.”

Sampley added that the Eagles drove down to the 10-yard line once and within the 30 on two other occasions, but came up empty each time.

Defensively, managing the talented Wildcats backfield similarly proved too difficult a task.

“They had two or three backs that were hard to tackle—we didn’t get them on the ground when we had to,” Sampley added.

“Edgewood has a good team.  I thought we played hard.  We were just outmanned a bit.”

Though it’s easy to classify a 4-6 season without a trip to the playoffs as a disappointing one, Sampley said that he was glad to spend the year with such a dedicated senior staff.

“I appreciate all of the hard work our seniors have put in in their career at Fort Dale. We’re going to miss them,” Sampley said.

“The rest of us are going to have to go back to work and get in the weight room on Monday to get stronger, better and get ready for next year.”

Burkett finished the evening with 11 carries for 109 yards.

Sawyer Kendrick led receivers with 4 catches for 65 yards.

Kendrick, alongside Caleb Whigham, led the defense with 10 tackles apiece, and Cody Parker tacked on a fumble recovery.