It’s Homecoming time at Dolores County High School.

It is a time when the student body is busy with the many different activities. Distractions for the football players are obvious, especially to the coaches.

"I’m glad we are getting it over earlier this year," DCHS football coach Ken Soper said. "But the way our schedule is, we won’t have another home game for quite a while (Oct. 23 vs. Nucla)."

The Bulldogs, 2-0, will host Montrose JVs beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, at Weber Park in Dove Creek. The Indians have traditionally tried to air out the ball against the Bulldogs. The games have been close several times the teams have played, although not recently.

They will be in for another good test this Friday, Sept. 17, as the Blue Jays take on Pagosa Springs beginning at 7 p.m. at Mancos Field.

"This will be another big game for us against another good team," Mancos High School head football coach Terry Newlin said. "They (Pirates) lost their good quarterback who hurt us so much a year ago. But they are big and strong and we will have to play very well to win."

Newlin said he feels his Jays match up pretty well speed-wise, but Pagosa has some bigger kids along the offensive and defensive front lines.

The Bears will continue their long home stand as they host Shiprock, N.M., this Friday, Sept. 17. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. The Chiefs have been struggling in football for a number of years now. The school’s enrollment has been falling steadily and they will drop from the Class 3A ranks next year. Dolores, 1-1, has looked good at times so far this young season under second-year coach Bill Kralicek.

DCHS is coming off a surprisingly easy win over Class 2A Bayfield 48-0 on Sept. 11 at Weber Park.

The Bulldogs quickly disposed of the once-powerful and one-time state champ Wolverines.

Bayfield fumbled on their opening possession at its own 39-yard line giving Dolores County excellent field position. A 30-yard double pass from quarterback Justin Wyatt to halfback Ron Ernst who tossed to end Keith Pierce set up the first touchdown. Two plays later Jade Huskey dived into the end zone from 5-yards out with 10:08 on the clock. Wyatt tossed to Chris Kail for the conversion.

Bayfield fumbled again on its next possession at its own 25. A nice 19-yard lob to Terence Gardner set up the next score. Huskey scored again from the 4 with 8:08 left. Kail booted the point-after for a 15-0 lead.

DCHS got good field position from its own 40 and scored on a 60-yard bomb to Gardner with just over five minutes to play. The kick was good and the Bulldogs led 22-0.

Dove Creek scored early in the second quarter which had been earlier set up by an interception by Nick Montgomery. Huskey swept over the right side for the score from 3 yards out with 10:06 on the clock. The kick missed the mark but DCHS had a 28-0 advantage. Wyatt connected with Pierce on a 75-yard pass play with 6:33 remaining. Kail booted the PAT for a 35-0 lead. Its final score of the half came with no time showing on the clock when Wyatt found Ernst open in the end zone. The kick was good and DCHS led 42-0.

Talk about ball control in the third quarter. The Bulldogs got the ball and kept it the entire quarter. The Bulldogs got the ball on their own 2-yard line and marched all the way to a score on a 21-play drive. Huskey capped the drive with a 5-yard plunge with 6 seconds left. The kick failed, but Dove Creek led 48-0.

The mercy rule kicked in and clock continuously ran during the entire fourth quarter. Soper freely substituted, playing his second and third string players.

"I was hoping for a little better game," Soper said following the game. "But everyone played very well. We really did a good job offensive and defensively."

Things didn’t go as well for Mancos and Dolores. The Blue Jays lost 52-0 last weekend (Sept. 11) at Sargent (located near Monte Vista). The Bears were beaten 31-13 by Monticello, Utah, at home on Sept. 10.

"We knew going into the game they had a very good football team. But our kids came out flat. We played back on our heels waiting for them to do something. We made a lot of mistakes but that’s because we had a lot of kids playing different positions. We had to shuffle our lineup at the last minute because of some key injuries," Newlin added.

The Jays were playing without Philip Wilson, one of the fastest fullbacks in the San Juan League. Wilson also is the mainstay in the linebacking corps and his position had to be filled there as well. Wilson, it wasn’t discovered to only a few days ago, that he injured a knee in the opening win over Ignacio. Newlin believes the knee is badly bruised but the swelling won’ go down. It is not known how long he will be out of the lineup but Newlin is hoping he’ll be ready to play some against Pagosa Springs. Also standout Jeremiah Muniz is out with a viral lung infection. The doctors say he may miss up to four weeks or perhaps for the remainder of the season.

Even though a football team gets clobbered, there is usually someone or some unit which performs reasonably well. Newlin said his offensive line did a good job in giving quarterback Kelley Smith enough protection, especially on passing situations during the game against Sargent. They are right tackle Ryan Shepherd, right guard Scott Koppenhafer, center Travis Clark, left guard Corey Hallam, and right tackle Cody Eubanks.

000200000AC80000151E AC2,The Blue Jays host Piedra Vista JVS from Farmington, N.M., at 1 p.m. Sept. 25. They will open San Juan League play at Nucla Oct. 1.

On the heels of a 42-0 blowout of the Pagosa Springs JVs last week, Dolores took a 31-13 whuppin from Monticello, Utah, Saturday before the home crowd. But the final score did not reflect what was for the most part an evenly fought match up for the 1-1 Bears.

Defense was the name of the game in the non-league encounter. Dolores blunted three Buckaroo drives to its 7, 20 and 13 yard line during the first half, and the score was a 0-0 stalemate at intermission.

The offensive stats were on the side of the Bears after 24 minutes of play, though. They went to the locker room with 76 net yards while holding Monticello to 21.

It was a good step forward for the team in the eyes of Coach Bill Kralicek whose predominantly frosh team of last season has matured in measure to a predominantly sophomore team.

"I’d like to play them again in a couple of weeks," Kralicek said following the game. "They came in here and I think we surprised them. Our kids made some steps. We’re a much better team than we were last year."

Monticello’s West Coast offense began the second half in high gear, scoring three touchdowns in the third stanza.

It took just one minute of play for the Buckaroos to draw first blood. Quarterback John Adams completed three passes, the third a 35 yard touchdown strike to wide receiver Matt Dowell, to put Monticello on the board. The extra point try was no good.

Monticello took a punt on its own 38 yard line to begin its next possession. The Bucks marched down to the Bear 11 where running back Kyle Curtis Kyle swept around his right end and into the end zone with 7:28. The two-point conversion pass was incomplete, but the score was 12-0.

A 53-yard drive resulted in another TD with 5:44 left in the third quarter. This time Danny Hall went over on a sweep. The two point run was stopped in the backfield.

Adams was good for another pass with 6:20 to play, this one an 11-yard strike to Matt Pehrson to give Monticello a 24-0 edge. The PAT kick was no good.

Dolores trotted out a passing attack of its own in response. A Cullen Zion to Justin Schmitt bomb was good for a 75 yard score. Dustin Gilstrap booted the extra point to make it a 24-7 game.

A screen pass to Walter Fellmeth turned into a 27 yard scramble to pay dirt on the next Monticello offensive series. This time the PAT kick sailed through the upright. With 1:55 left, the Bears trailed 31-7.