Ellwood Christian (3-3) looked to break a two game losing streak Friday night against fifth ranked Linden (3-2), but the Patriots’ rushing attack was too much to handle.

The Eagles lost their third game in a row 26-6.

“We played and competed with them pretty well. I thought we played great. We didn’t move the ball when we needed to, and we didn’t punch some scores in that I thought we could have,” said Ellwood head coach Trey Pike.

After receiving the opening kickoff, Ellwood was in prime position to score. A 43-yard quarterback keeper from Taylor Ellis put the Eagles inside the 30-yard line.

A few plays later Ellis was sacked. Pike elected to go for it on fourth down, but the Patriots’ defense came up with a stop with 9:30 left in the first quarter.

“We’ve just got to finish some drives and make some big plays when we have the opportunities to give us chances down the road,” Pike said. “I think if we can do those things we’re going to be very good and succeed and maybe even make a playoff run.”

Linden chewed six minutes off the clock with a heavy dose of its run game and put the first points on the board with a 20-yard touchdown run from Xavier McIntosh, making the score 7-0.

The Patriots made it 13-0 with a second touchdown run from McIntosh from three yards out with 9:05 left in the second quarter.

“We were pretty basic in what we were doing. We wanted to block and tackle. Our guys blocked, and out backs ran,” said Linden head coach Andro Williams.

McIntosh added his third score of the night from four yards out with 35 seconds left in the first half, making it 19-0. Linden only threw the ball a handful of times the entire game, but on the first play of the second half, Christopher Robinson hit DeVonta Poole in stride for a 69-yard touchdown, putting the Patriots up 26-0.

A 10-yard run from Rayford Mitchell put the Eagles on the board, which made the score 26-6, Linden.

However, it was too little, too late for the Eagles, who have only scored 12 points in their last three games.

Ellwood visits first ranked Maplesville next week, and Linden visits A.L. Johnson.