Sept. 25, 2001

By Jim Thomas
Journal Sports Editor

BAYFIELD — An 80-yard pass play for a touchdown on the first down from scrimmage for Bayfield set the tone Saturday afternoon, Sept. 22, as the Wolverines went on to celebrate their Homecoming with a 17-0 win over Mancos in non-conference football action.

Quarterback Tyler McLaughlin sprinted out and found a wide open Matt Brown who had gotten past the Blue Jay safety and raced untouched to paydirt with 11:57 left in the first quarter. Steven Qualls booted the point-after for a 7-0 lead.

"I saw them using it before, so it was not unexpected they took us deep," MHS head coach Gordon Shepherd said immediately following the game. "We had seen that play and even used in practice. We had some injuries to some defensive backs. I guess they just didn’t really think about it and he got away. But it wasn’t a surprise and we just didn’t execute."

The Jays had suffered a rash of injuries and had too many people in the lineup not used to playing other positions.

"We had a new tight end, and a new wingback. We had some injuries right at the end of the week so we couldn’t work them in practices. That changed two positions in our offense. But I told the kids we battled as hard as we could but we didn’t execute on plays when we really needed to. We just didn’t have the right people in there and execute the plays like we have all year long."

Mancos’ offense squandered several scoring opportunities. The Jays’ first chance came after they recovered a fumble at the Bayfield 47-yard line. Kelley Smith completed several short passes and got the team all way to the B20 before the drive stalled. Scott Koppenhafer attempted a 38-yard field goal but it was short and wide of the mark.

Again, the Wolverines coughed up the ball, but not as a good of field position at the Jay 26. The Jays held the ball and worked it down to the B28 but the drive stalled again. Koppenhafer tried a 45 yard field goal but the kick was again short and wide of the uprights.

Bayfield led 7-0 when the quarter ended.

On Mancos’ first possession of the second quarter in good field position at their own 47, the Jays marched down field. The biggest play came when Smith found Nick Rubino on a long 23-yard pass play from the B44 to the B27. The Jays could only get to the B24 before they turned it over on downs.

Again Mancos got a golden opportunity after Bayfield fumbled the ball at the B44. A long keep by Smith and a couple good runs by Rubino got Mancos down to the B30 but the drive stalled and Bayfield took the ball over on downs. Bayfield during the quarter never did threaten. The score remained 7-0 at the intermission.

Neither team scored in the third quarter. In fact, neither team mounted much of an offensive series. Bayfield did get as far as the M20 but the quarter ended.

The Wolverines finally scored, off the same drive that was stopped momentarily at the end of the third quarter, when Qualls booted a 33-yard field goal with 9:25 remaining for a 10-0 lead.

Mancos went three plays and out. Starting on their own 29, the Wolverines mounted a long sustained drive. The march to paydirt last for 14 plays. The Wolverines went to its ground game and wore down the Jays and the clock at the same time. From the 9-yard line, Matt Gonzales bulled his way up the middle for a TD with 1:57 left. Qualls booted the PAT for a 17-0 score. The Jays got the ball one more time but moved from its own 30 to the B35.

"They kept getting first downs. We couldn’t stop them in the second half. They kept the ball and wore down the clock," Shepherd added.

Bayfield kept the turnovers down, which had plagued the team in its three previous losses (including a 7-0 win by Dove Creek earlier in the season).

"I told them now we have got to get ready for Nucla next week. That is just a game we really need to get. They understand that this was a tough game to lose but the Nucla game is the one that counts. I’ll be interested to see how Sargent does with them ( 35-0 win by Sargent; Mancos lost to Sargent 21-7 on Sept. 8). That will give us a pretty good idea about what we can expect. Nucla certainly is a team we have to be concerned about. I think we have played better teams in our preseason. It should be a good game.

The Blue Jays, 2-2, will open Class A San Juan Basin League play at defending league and state champ Nucla at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29.

RIFLE — Montezuma-Cortez lost its first Class AAA Western Slope League football game Saturday afternoon at RHS.

The Panthers, who fell to 0-1 and 0-4 overall and have dropped their last 16 straight games since dating back to the final two games of the 1999 season, fell behind quickly thanks to the rifle-arm passing of quarterback Ryan Whittington. He zipped a 16-yard scoring strike to Ryan Enright. Whittington called his own number and ran for a TD from 6 yards out. And then Whittington passed 28 yards to Michael Birdsley for a 21-0 score at the end of the first quarter.

Enright opened the second quarter with a 10-yard run. Finally, MCHS got on the scoreboard when Richard Yake scored on a 70-yard pass play from Kevin Wayman. Birdsley snagged a pass and took it 56 yards to paydirt late in the third quarter.

Early in the fourth, Yake scored on an another long pass from Wayman, good for 65 yards. But Rifle had already put in its second string. Rifle scored late in the game on a 22-yarder.

The Panthers will host Glenwood Springs (0-3, 0-1 and 43-13 loser last week to Steamboat Springs) for Homecoming at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, at Panther Stadium (see Page One related story).

Dolores celebrated its Homecoming ‘01 with a resounding 35-7 win over San Juan County High (Blanding, Utah) JVs Saturday afternoon at DHS Stadium.

The Bears, who improved to 3-1 overall, got off to a slow start offensively but made up for it the final three quarters. After a scoreless first quarter, Dolores found paydirt early in the second quarter when Luke Ragland scored on a 13-yard run. A few minutes later Cullen Zion found Waylon Bennett on a 58 yard pass play. Dolores led 13-0 at the intermission.

Casy Garvin sacked the Bronco quarterback for a safety in the third quarter. The Bears got the ball back on their own 20. On the next play, Kevin Fane, on a half-back option, hit Bennett who was wide open for an 80-yard scoring strike. Zion passed to Fane from 16 yards out later in the quarter.

Garrett Nielson scampered 35 yards to paydirt in the fourth quarter. San Juan tried a little razzle-dazzle with a quarterback throwback which covered several yards. After eight tries from the 1, San Juan finally got on the scoreboard on a pass play.

Offensively, the Bears racked up 452 yards in total offense. Bennett caught four passes on the day for 138 yards. Zion completed 5 of 11 attempts for 110 yards. Zion was the leading rusher with 88 but Nielson wasn’t far behind him with 75. Defensively, Derek Thompson led the team in tackles while Sean Boone led the team in sacks.

The Bears, winners of their last three straight games, host Class A San Juan Basin League-mate Norwood at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28.

"I feel like we have some momentum going into league play," DHS coach Don Story said. "Those three wins are nice (Dolores went 1-9 a year ago), but they don’t really mean much since they were non-conference games. I think we have a good team and I think we will be okay in league. We are playing well right now, although I wish we were playing just a little bit better."

Dolores County improved to 4-0 on Saturday afternoon and the students and alumni visiting and celebrated in style with an easy Homecoming victory at Weber Park in Dove Creek.

Dallas Coker got the Bulldogs on the scoreboard with a 32-yard field goal in the first quarter. They added a touchdown in the second quarter when Coker caught a 6-yard pass from Keith Pierce. DCHS led the Chieftans 10-0 at the half.

"We had a slow first half," DCHS head coach Ken Soper said. "We made a lot of mistakes. I don’t know if it was Homecoming or what."

Darin Retherford scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter. Pierce called his own number and sneaked into the end zone from 1 yard out.

Pierce was having a field day against the Chief’s secondary. He passed for 209 yards, completing a whopping 20 of 28 attempts. Pierce ran for another 1 yard TD and Matt Beanland zipped 22 yards for the final score on the day.

"I was real proud of them in the second half. We scored on our first three possessions of the half," Soper added.

Joe Buffington snagged seven passes for 69 yards. Coker grabbed five for 63. Beanland rushed for 62.

Defensively, DCHS linebackers Bru Meyer and Lyle Joe had 11 and nine tackles, respectively, while tackle James Smith chased down nine.

Dove Creek will not open league play for another week. The Bulldogs will renew an old matchup by host Farmington High JVs at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Copyright © 2001 the Cortez Journal. All rights reserved.
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