Poor weather and turnovers was the theme of the evening in Goshen on Friday night. In the end, the Purple Cats held on to defeat the Eagles 29-6.

With the win, the Purple Cats improve to 1-1, while the Eagles fall to 0-1.

Turnovers had a huge impact in the first half for the both Eagles and Purple Cats. The game’s first three drives ended in fumbles, one by Ariton and two by the Eagles. The Eagles turned the ball over on their first three drives of the contest.

The Eagles second fumble led to the game’s first eight points. After getting possession on the Eagles 26, the Purple Cats embarked on a four-play drive ending with a 14-yard touchdown run by Jackson Blair. Bryson Peavy converted the two-point conversion and Ariton held an 8-0 lead with 5:45 remaining in the first quarter.

After another Goshen fumble gave Ariton possession on the Goshen 11, Peavy plunged over the goal line on a 2-yard touchdown run to put the Purple Cats up 15-0.

Blair had the biggest run of the half when he rumbled his way for a 38-yard touchdown to push Ariton’s lead to 22-0 with 11:42 remaining in the half.

With 8:50 remaining in the half, lightning was seen in the area, forcing the game to be halted.

After a 30-minute delay, the Eagles came out with an eye on cutting into their deficit. The Purple Cats went three-and-out in their opening drive.  The Eagles blocked the punt and took over on the Ariton 20-yard line. On fourth down, Tre Dix leaped in the air and hauled in a 15-yard touchdown pass by Bryan Galloway. After not converting the extra point, the new score was 22-6 with under 2:00 remaining in the half.

Both teams were held scoreless throughout much of the second until Peavy officially put the game out of reach with a touchdown run from inside the five-yard line to put Ariton up 29-6 with 8:03 remaining.

Ariton will be back in action next Friday night when they host Geneva County. Goshen will the road to take on Zion Chapel. Both games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.