De Soto ? Eudora’s plans for an undefeated season ended in less than five minutes last week at Baldwin.

On Friday, in a tad more than 10 minutes, the Cardinals discovered their dream of the Class 4A state championship was still alive, scoring 27 points in the second quarter of a 42-8 district-opening rout of DeSoto.

“We were just sick about that game,” Cardinal senior running back Andrew Pyle said about Baldwin’s 33-32 last-second stunner. “Everybody tells us that it doesn’t matter, which is true because the real season started tonight. But it always sucks to lose, and we had that fresh on our minds.”

Pyle, who said he was completely recovered from an ankle injury sustained two weeks ago at Wellsville, paved Eudora’s path to victory.

Pyle produced 148 of Eudora’s 397 total yards on 25 carries Friday. In the first half, he rushed for 102 yards on 14 carries. Heck, Pyle gained 91 yards that were called back because of penalties.

And it was the senior’s three second-quarter touchdowns that got Eudora pumping.

“I didn’t run that hard against Baldwin, and I don’t know if my injury had a lot to do with that,” said Pyle, who gained 870 yards in his first four games but just 61 last week. “Coach had been telling me I wasn’t hitting the hole hard enough, so I wanted to make sure I did that tonight.”

In the final minute of the first quarter, Pyle took a pitch 70 yards down the right sideline to the Wildcat 8, but a holding call nullified the run. The penalty was overcome, though, as Pyle eventually scored.

Pyle scored again on a 7-yard scamper up the middle, then took a ball in from a yard out to give Eudora a 21-0 lead. He later broke off a 51-yard run, but another penalty erased it.

“I can’t blame them, they open good holes for me,” a grinning Pyle said about his linemen. “Yeah, you look back and it’s kind of frustrating when you see the flag, but then you go out there and try to do it again.”

Pyle wasn’t the only Cardinal operating on offense, as Joey Donahue caught a 45-yard bullet from quarterback Tyler Cleveland for Eudora’s fourth touchdown in the second quarter.

Eudora 42, DeSoto 8

Eudora (6-1) 0 27 7 8 Â 42

DeSoto (3-4) 0 0 0 8 Â 8

Second quarter

E Â Andrew Pyle 1 run (Kaleb Niedens kick)

E Â Pyle 7 run (Niedens kick)

E Â Pyle 1 run (Niedens kick)

E Â Joey Donahue 45 pass from Tyler Cleveland (kick failed)

Third quarter

E Â Joe Born punt block, recovery (Niedens kick)

Fourth quarter

E Â Cole Massey 54 run (Massey run)

D Â Michael Allen 4 run (Aaron Hueser run)