The Skyline High Schoolfootball team hit another milestone on Thursday night. For the first time in program history, the Eagles gained more yards on the ground (173) than through the air (142) in a 42-12 win at Dexter.

With two straight weeks of solid defense, and now signs of a competent running game, the Eagles may have officially graduated from their status as a one-dimensional team.

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It wasn’t exactly the game plan on offense according to senior quarterback Andrew Copp.

“We were planning on airing it out a little bit more tonight than we did last week, but it was just there for us, ” Copp said.

Copp finished the night 10 of 17 passing for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Although his counterpart, Dexter's Mike Mioduszewski, is better known for his dual-threat capabilities, Copp showed he could get it done on the ground as well with 17 carries for 76 yards.

Copp said most of the runs were by design, but some were improvisations in reaction to Dexter's efforts to shut down on his big-play receivers.

“They didn’t have a lot of guys in the box and we were able to find holes and scramble around with plays that ended up being big for us,” he said.

The evolution of the Skyline (2-0) program was on display in the first two drives of the third quarter. After the defense kept Dexter from scoring -- despite a first-and-goal from the 5-yard line -- Skyline ate up more than 10 minutes of clock, and capped a double-digit play drive with a 5-yard touchdown run from Copp to go up 28-12 in the fourth quarter.

The drive was representative of the second half, as Skyline held possession for more than 17 minutes.

The read option, which had worked with a relative amount of success for the Dreadnaughts (1-1) in the first half, was mostly abandoned after Dexter’s first drive of the second in an attempt to conserve clock.

"I don't know if it was part of the game plan, but he kept our offense off the field," said first-year Dexter coach Brian Baird. "We tightened up a little bit, went away from (the read option) a bit because instead of being down one score we were down 16 points and I didn't know if we were going to get the ball back."

Skyline outscored Dexter 21-0 in a second half that looked nothing like the first. The Dreadnaughts scored on their first and final drives, but failed to sustain any momentum they may have gained from either score.

After Copp hit Jordan Woods for a 32-yard score on the game’s opening drive, Dexter came back with a 32-yard touchdown of its own, a run by quarterback Mioduszewski. Woods returned the ensuing kickoff 83 yards and Skyline went up 14-6.

That’s how the score would remain, until Mioduszewski capped an 88-yard drive with a touchdown pass to Jacob Van Hoof with 54 seconds left.

Skyline stopped Dexter on the conversion attempt, drove 60 yards on the ensuing drive and Copp hit Clark in the back of the end zone with no time on the clock. Seth Goldstein hit the extra point and Skyline took a 21-12 lead into half.

"That was big, because the momentum was shifting," Skyline coach Rod Jones said. "That kind of put the momentum back on our side of the ball."

“That's disappointing, you try and execute, but I mean he has talented athletes," Baird said. "The quarterback and wide receiver made a play.

We had a great stop on the two plays before that, but (Copp) needled it in."

Mioduszewski led Dexter with 120 rushing yards and a touchdown and was 14 of 25 passing for 81 yards and a score.

With the success of the running game, Woods didn’t get as many looks as he’s accustomed to (three receptions, 60 yards), but still found a way to have a big impact. He scored a third touchdown on a 45-yard interception return with 38 seconds left in the game.

"Us running the ball helped us so much more in opening the pass game ... and it was really needed because it gives the defense a break," said Woods. "Maybe I won't get as many passes thrown to me, so you just gotta do what you do to get it other ways."

Woods was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after dunking the football through the uprights on his third score, much to the dismay of Jones.

"(Jones) gave me an earful. I was just in the moment. One of my teammates told me to do it and it just ended up happening," Woods said. "I'll probably hear about it on Monday, but it was worth it."

Contact Pete Cunningham at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.