“I’m too old for this….” Roger Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon, a movie that came out when I was 21 years old.

The fictional character played by Danny Glover was six years younger than me. I was feeling him as I watched the Bryan Rudder Rangers go up 34-0 on my Salado Eagles, a team I have covered since 1988, in less than 18 minutes of play.

But then something happened that this sportswriter has never seen happen before while covering the Salado Eagles.

With 6:11 left in the first half and the Rudder Rangers with an insurmountable lead of 34-0, the Salado Eagles hunkered down and created a miracle. Rudder missed an extra point in their dominance of Salado in the first half, something that would come to haunt them.

Kase Madegen took the ensuing kickoff at the 3 yard line and returned it to the Salado 30. He then took a hand-off for 16 yards for a first down at the Salado 46. Luke Law missed a pass. He hit Brendan Wilson for six yards, with a penalty putting the ball at the Rudder 27. A pass interference call gave Salado the ball at the 14. Maedgen rushed for 6 yards. A defensive offsides gave Salado the ball at the 4. Maedgen scored and Townes Sather was good for the kick with 3:58 left in the half. Salado trailed 34-7.

The Eagles struggled and swapped punts with Rudder when Brooks Mayberry recover a fumbled punt at the Rudder 32-yard-line with 1:31 left in the first half.

With 1:31 left in the half, Salado pushed the ball forward with a pass from Law to James Renick, a run by Maedgen  and a short pass to Brendan Wilson to give the Eagles a first down at the Rudder 20  yard line with 30 clicks left on the halftime clock.

Runs by Maedgen and Law and a quick time out gave Salado the ball at the Rudder 1 yard line with 1 second left on the clock. Talk about clock management!

Law pushed the ball in and Townes Sather converted the kick to bring the halftime score to 34-14. 

The Eagles kicked to Rudder for the second half. 

A miracle happened in the second half. Like the US hockey team miracle of the 1980s.

Salado kicked the ball to Rudder to open the second half. 

Dawson Barksdale  recovered a fumble for the Eagles by Bruce Hendrick, who had not given up anything so far. Salado took over deep in Rudder territory. 

Three plays later, Maedgen scored from the 7 yard line.. With Townes Sather kicking the extra point, Salado brought the score to 21-34.

The Eagles forced Rudder to punt on the next series, taking over at midfield.

Law hit Maedgen for a 51-yard TD with 9:44 left in the third, With Sather’s kick, Salado was within striking distance at 28-34 with 9:36 left in the third.

The Rangers drove to the Salado 6, when A.J  Fach intercepted a pass in the end zone for a touchback. for the Eagles.

That was all Maedgen needed. He took a second-and-10 hand-off, broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and ran for 81 yards to score. Sather’s kick gave Salado the first lead of the game with 4:54 in the third.

Davis Graham shut down a fourth down attempt with 3:33 left in the third to give the Eagles the ball at the Ranger 49 yard line. Maedgen ran through the heart of the defense for 40 yard to give the Eagles the ball at the Ranger 9. Law bulled his way for 5 yards before scoring on a draw for 4 yards with 2:35. The Eagles took the first lead of the game on a PAT kick by Sather, 42-34.

The combatives turned the ball over to each other, Rudder on an interception by Madegen and Salado on a fumble recovery at their own 10 yard line.

The Ranger scored on a 59 yard pass from Cody Billings to Jaquise Martin  with 9:24 left to play.

The Rangers went for two, but Davis Graham broke up a pass to give Salado a 42-40 lead.

Jayden Erskine intercepted a Luke Law pass and returned it for a 60 yard touchdown with 9:35 let to play. The kick brought the score to 47-42.

The Eagles toook the ensuing kick off and methodically drove down the field, scoring on a 1 yard dive by Law with 2:34.

The Eagles went for 2, but failed.

Rudder took the kick off to their 30 yard line but could not get a first down, turning it over to Salado with 1:35 left and no timeouts for the 48-47 win.