The Northside Eagles secured their first win of the season Friday night, defeating the Veterans Warhawks 36–22 and moving to 1–9 on the year.
Northside wasted no time setting the tone. On their opening drive, sophomore running back Bennie Solomon broke free off the edge for a 53-yard touchdown run at the 10:52 mark in the first quarter, giving the Eagles an early 7–0 lead.
Minutes later, quarterback Wyatt Henson connected with senior receiver Xaden McNeil on a perfectly-placed deep ball. McNeil hauled it in around the 25-yard line and sprinted untouched to the end zone, pushing the lead to 14–0.
Northside’s defense then stepped up in a big way. With Veterans backed up inside their own 20, defensive standout Kel Harris pressured the quarterback into a desperation throw out of the back of the end zone, resulting in a safety and a 16–0 advantage.
The Eagles kept attacking. Henson found Aamaury Fountain on a third-and-long throw to set up a short touchdown run by Dayvon Mathis, extending the lead to 23–0 with ten seconds left in the opening quarter.
Northside capitalized on special-teams momentum early in the second. Following a Veterans fumble on a punt, Henson again connected with McNeil for the senior’s second touchdown of the night, stretching the lead to 30–0. That score held through halftime as the Eagles dominated both sides of the ball through the opening two quarters.
Veterans showed fight coming out of the break. Quarterback Trey Byrd fueled a pair of third-quarter touchdown drives, including a scoring strike to Kaden Gutierrez. A successful two-point conversion cut the deficit to 30–14 with 3:37 left in the 3rd quarter.
But Northside answered quickly. After a long completion to McNeil, Henson later found his tight end for another Eagles touchdown early in the fourth quarter, pushing the lead to 36–14.
Veterans punched in one final score midway through the fourth and added a two-point conversion to make it 36–22, but the Eagles’ defense held firm the rest of the way to secure the win.
The contest likely represented the final game of the 2025 season for both teams as neither is expected to make the playoffs.
Northside defender Addison Mckenzie (45) delivers a hit to Veteran’s Deric Ingram (5)
Veterans Michael Carter (22) slips past Northside defenders
