The Fort Dale Academy Eagles enjoyed victory for the second time at home Friday, in just as convincing fashion, after a 35-6 win over the Wilcox Academy.

Also, for the second consecutive week, the Eagles offense got off to a blistering start, though this week the spark was a 64-yard touchdown run from Tripp Richardson.

Only minutes later, a 34-yard scramble from quarterback Luke Taylor extended the Eagles’ lead to 13-0.

Richardson struck again, this time from special teams, on a 55-yard punt return for a touchdown that secured a 19-0 lead for Fort Dale.

And Taylor connected with Jason Little from the Eagles’ own 46-yard line for a 54-yard touchdown pass to make it 26-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The Eagles led by as many as 35 in the fourth, before Wilcox finally managed a response with a late-game touchdown.

Though FDA head football coach James “Speed” Sampley still had a handful of critiques for his defense, he was overall pleased with the Eagles’ performance Friday night.

“It was another win,” he said. “We’re getting better on defense. We still have to tackle better. We had lots of offensive penalties that didn’t help us any. Overall, we played hard.

“The younger kids are getting experience. We need to play well next week against Pike in our first region game.”

FDA’s Zach Kendrick agreed with his coach’s assessment, calling next week’s clash with Pike the most important of the season by far.

“We played well tonight,” Kendrick said.

“I’m looking forward to next week’s game against Pike.  It will be a tough one that we need to prepare well for.”

Little led FDA in receiving yards with 46.

Kendrick led the ground effort with 76 rushing yards on 6 carries.

Taylor was 4 for 8 passing with 77 yards, and he picked up an additional 36 rushing yards.

Torin Buntz led the Eagles with 14 tackles, and Bradey Peavey and Cade Mansmann each recorded 12.

FDA will travel to face the Pike Liberal Arts Patriots Friday.  Kickoff begins at 7 p.m.