By Jim Thomas

Dolores County finished the regular season with a perfect 9-0 record. But the Bulldogs are far from finished as they host Custer County at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6, in the first round of the Class A Football Playoffs.

In other Class A games Ellicott visits Plateau Valley, Nucla travels to Fowler, Limon takes on Akron, Norwood travels to Sanford, Julesburg takes on Crowley County, Grand Valley visits Sargent, and West Grand takes on Wiggins.

"I don’t know anything about them (Custer County)," DCHS coach Ken Soper said following the Mancos game. "We exchanged films (videotape) with Hoehne last week thinking we would play each other but Custer County upset them. We will get some film on Custer County but we won’t get it until probably Wednesday."

The Bulldogs wrapped the San Juan League title and top seed by defeating Mancos 35-6 Saturday afternoon, Oct. 30, at Weber Park Field in Dove Creek. The loss ended Mancos’ season at 3-6.

"We have so many young and inexperienced kids," Mancos coach Terry Newlin said following the game. "I knew going in this was going to be a rebuilding season and that’s what it turned out to be."

"I’m pleased that we won but I wasn’t pleased with them today. They went out and played a good quarter of football and then they just laid down after that. I had hoped for a sharper game going into next (this) week. We got a lot of penalties and we made too many turnovers. I don’t know what it was," Soper added.

After the Blue Jays went three-and-out, the Bulldogs marched from their own 42 and nine plays took the ball into the end zone. Reserve quarterback Keith Pierce, playing in place of the injured Justin Wyatt, engineered the drive. It was capped off when Jade Huskey bulled his way in from 2 yards out. Chris Kail booted the point-after.

Again Mancos went three-and-out and following a short punt the Bulldogs were back in business at their own 39. Pierce completed two passes which put Dove Creek in the red zone. Three plays later, Huskey scored again from a yard out with 3:22 on the clock. The PAT was good and DCHS was up 14-0.

Mancos made a nice drive but could not get past their own 39. Dolores County had good field position at the M44. A long pass play from Pierce to Kail put the Bulldogs at the M10 when time expired in the quarter.

In the second quarter, the Bulldogs scored with 11:56 on the clock. Jarrod Wyatt took the ball across from the 1-yard line. The PAT was good and Dove Creek led 21-0.

But suddenly the Bulldogs lost their intensity. Mancos had several opportunities to score, including getting the ball after a pass interception. The Blue Jays had a good drive from their own 13 but it ended at the DC42 with a pass interception. Dove Creek marched from their own 20 to the M2 but was stopped by a 15-yard penalty. The score at the half was 21-0.

Dolores County took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched from their own 35 to paydirt. The drive took 17 plays and took nearly seven minutes off the clock. The Bulldogs kept the ball on the ground and moved the ball methodically up field. They converted a third-and-long and a fourth-and-1 during the drive. Mancos also helped out with a 15-yard penalty. Jarrod Wyatt took the ball over from the 1 with 5:07 showing. Kail once again booted the PAT. DC led 28-0. A costly mistake by Mancos enabled the Bulldogs to score again. Terence Gardner intercepted a pass and ran it back 21 yards for a TD with 0:17 left in the third quarter. The kick was good and DCHS was up 35-0. By that point the Bulldogs were playing their second and third stringers.

The Blue Jays could not do much with the ball on its first drive. The Bulldogs didn’t do much either on their possession. After a short punt against the stiff northwest wind, the Jays were in business at the DC49. But an interception on the next play stopped that. The Bulldogs took the ball from the mid-field stripe and marched to the M16 before giving it up on downs. Mancos reserve quarterback Ryan Huseby, playing in place of Kelley Smith who broke his leg the week before, hit Kelly Mitchell on a long pass to the DC45. On the next play Huseby passed to Nick Rubino for a touchdown with 2:28 to play. The conversion run failed. Mancos had a chance again at its own 42 but an interception stopped that.