RAYMOND – The Eagle football team soared to victory defeating the Southwest Mississippi Bears 40-14 on a historic night where the football field was named after Athletic director and recently retired, legendary head coach Gene Murphy.

"I can't tell you how thankful and humble I am for this honor to be bestowed upon me. It's reflective of a lot of people in the trenches with me, my wife, family, players and coaches that have been a part of it. This is a real special time for me," said Murphy.

Both the Eagle offense and defensive defended their newly-named home field by scoring forty points on 296 yards of total offense and forcing two turnovers on defense.  

The Eagles opened up the scoring when running back, Devante Scott (Scooba), ran the ball 33 yards into the end zone to give his team the lead 7-0 with 6:56 minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Southwest quickly answered with a touchdown run of their own to tie the game at 7-7 before the Eagles put up 33 unanswered points highlighted by a 29-yard touchdown run by Tylan Morton (Griffin, Ga.), an 83-yard interception return by Byron Galvin (Vicksburg), a one-handed 16-yard touchdown catch by Stephen Guidry (New Roads, La.), a 1-yard touchdown run by Ja'Darius Payne (Magee), a safety forced by the Eagle special teams, and a 31-yard field goal by Spencer Cole (Flowood).  

The Eagles rushing attack led by Ja'Darius Payne's 67 yards, out ran the Bears 240 yards to 52 yards.

Reigning MACJC Defensive Player of the Week, Bryon Galvin, continued to demonstrate his play-making ability by intercepting two more passes tonight to lead the defense.  

When asked about the play of Galvin, head coach Larry Williams had high praise stating, "Byron is a warrior. I'm glad he's on our side, and I'm glad he's back home."

The Eagles improved to 2-0 with the victory and will look to stay undefeated as they take on Pearl River Community College on the road in Poplarville next Thursday, Sept. 12th at 6 p.m.

You can follow the Eagle football team on twitter at HindsCC_FB