It didn't help that Mountain View was playing against Utah's version of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

It didn't help that the Bruins were facing a Skyline team that felt the only way to vindicate itself after a slow start this season was to beat up any and everything in its path.And it certainly didn't help that the Bruins treated the first half of the ball game as if the object of the game were to punt the ball away as quickly as possible, before realizing a bit too late that they needed to score a few points in order to win.

With a stellar outing by Brodie Reid, it all added up to a 31-13 win for Skyline as the Eagles continue a march to a possible fourth straight 5A title.

"Not to take anything away from Skyline because they played very well," said Bruin coach Randy Rehrer, "but I really think in our early part of the game we missed a lot of opportunities."

And while Mountain View was ineffective offensively, the Eagles were firing on all cylinders.

Reid busted out of the pack for a 66-yard touchdown on his team's first possession to give Skyline a quick 7-0 lead only a minute into the game.

The Bruins had a pair of three-and-out possessions surrounding a recovered Skyline fumble, and the Eagles took over again.

A relentless rushing attack included a 37-yard scamper by David Arcilesi before Brandon Van-leeu-wen took a pitch on a fake field goal and turned the right corner for a 19-yard touchdown that made the score 14-0 with 1:51 left to play in the opening quarter.

"That play's been good to us once in a while," said Skyline coach Roger DuPaix. "And luckily it worked for us tonight."

Just about everything worked, actually.

The Eagle running game was in top shape as Skyline dominated the line of scrimmage and eventually opened up a 24-0 lead before the Bruins finally got their offense clicking. Reid finished the game with close to 200 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns.

Bruin quarterback Casey Reh-rer struggled mightily to move his team downfield. In the first half he was just 4-for-17 passing with many of those misses not coming close to the intended receiver.

"We had a lot of open receivers and just overthrew them every time," said Randy Rehrer of his son and starting quarterback. "Against a team as good as Skyline, they have such good running backs, you make a mistake and it usually ends up being a big gain for them. We needed to have a good passing game today, unfortunately, he didn't have that good game."

Mountain View finally got onto the board late in the third quarter when Rehrer hit Chris Livingston on a screen pass for a 32-yard touchdown. On the next possession, Rehrer again got a score as Dave Gaffney broke free on the left sideline and hauled in an 18-yard pass.

But by that time, the Eagles were far enough ahead that clock management became the deciding factor. Skyline wanted to run as much time as possible off the clock, and the Bruins wanted to move as quickly as they could in order to score.

The Bruins dodged one bullet when a Skyline 42-yard field goal attempt was wide left but were unable to capitalize.

Mountain View had a pair of turnovers in the final period and had a final drive end when the clock expired with the ball some 15 yards short of the end zone.

"We kept trying to let them back into the game," DuPaix said. "We really had our hands full, but we got a good pass rush, and I think that made a big difference."