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October 16, 2001
By Jim Thomas The Bears recorded one of their biggest wins in years Friday night, Oct. 12, as Dolores High School’s varsity football team dropped Class A no. 2 ranked Dolores County 35-22 in a big San Juan Basin League game at DHS Stadium. "That was a big win for us because we clinched a spot in the playoffs," a happy DHS head coach Don Story said following the game. "I give the credit to my assistants, Scott (Story) calling the offense and (Stan) Davis up in the booth. They did a great job. Certainly, the credit has go to the kids who executed. But what’s important now is that we are in the playoffs." Dolores’ last win over the Bulldogs came exactly a decade ago in 1991. Story, incidentally, was head coach at Nucla in the early 1970s and lost to legandary DCHS coach Ken Soper three times and once last season when Story came to DHS a year ago. Dolores, which only won one game a year ago, has won six straight and the Bears also have league wins over Nucla and Norwood. Dove Creek has beaten Norwood but still must beat Mancos and Nucla to earn a spot. Dolores still has got to play Mancos. Dolores improved to 3-0 in league and 6-1 overall. DCHS fell to 1-1 in league and 6-1 overall. Things got off on an ominous note for the Bulldogs when they fumbled on their first possession of the game early in the first quarter. Dolores took advantage of the situation and followed the excellent running of tailback Garrett Nielson and quick thinking of quarterback Cullen Zion. Nielson took the ball from the D23 all the way up to the DC47. Casey Garvin made a nice run off a pitch. Waylon Bennett capped the drive when he snared a 19-yarder from Zion. Garvin hit the point-after for a 7-0 lead with 6 minutes, 25 seconds left on the clock. The Bulldogs quickly turned the ball over with a pass interception but Dolores couldn’t capitalize. Joe Buffington did make a nice run for DCHS on the next series. The Bulldogs got right into the Red Zone but a sack put them back out. Buffington tried a field goal, but it was wide of the mark with a second left. Early in the second quarter, Zion called his own number on a punt fake and ran 81 yards to paydirt with 11:46 on the clock. Garvin booted the PAT for a 14-0 lead. DCHS, meanwhile, not only was having problems defensively trying to stop the option but struggled offensively as well. Keith Pierce, who had broken a thumb in practice earlier in the week, definitely was not throwing the ball well. The Bulldogs got all the way down to the D7 but was stopped. Late in the quarter, Dolores got good field position at their own 42. A nice 20-yard pass over the middle to Duston Russell helped set up the next score. Zion took the ball over from 11 yards out. The kick failed but Dolores led 20-0 with 3:00 to play. Dove Creek fumbled the ensuing kickoff late in the quarter. Dolores was able to capitalize on the miscue as they scored when Nielson scored from 1 yard out with 11:54 to go. The Bears were now had the Bulldogs shocked, leading 28-0. "There is no quit in those kids over there. Dove Creek is a class team. That is the mark of a great program to never give up. Those kids made it close," Story said of Dove Creek. But a great team never stays down. The Bulldogs went to the spread offense. Pierce started throwing the ball better and he finally got DCHS moving. The Bulldogs scored with 8:54 remaining when Buffington took the ball over from the 5. The run failed. Dolores led 28-6. Dolores fumbled the kickoff return. That set up DCHS’s next score. Seconds later, Pierce passed to Buffington in a play that covered 38 yards. Pierce passed to Dallas Daves for the conversion with 8:21 showing. The Bears were playing more conservatively on offense, trying to use time on the clock. A drive stalled. DCHS got the ball back in good field position. Pierce called his own number several times in a row. Daves made a clutch reception on a third-and-long situation with 2:29 left. A few seconds later, DCHS scored when Daves grabbed a 9-yarder from Pierce. Daves caught the conversion after being left all alone in the top of the end zone. Dolores’ now held a precarious 28-22 lead. With 1:33 left, Zion called his own number on a quarterback draw and scored from 41 yards after weaving in and out past defenders. Garvin booted the PAT for the final 35-22 count. "They (Dolores) just took it to us," Soper said following the game. "For the first three quarters, they just took it to us. The rammed the ball down our throats. It was just like our defense wasn’t there. We practiced and practiced against the option but they are quick. Our kids acted like they had never seen the option. Our kids just didn’t play their game. We came back but it was too late." Zion rushed for 232 yards, Nielson 152 and Garvin 104. Dolores finished with 458 yards in rushing offense. Defensively, Derek Thompson made nine tackes and Garvin made eight. The Bears will travel to Class AA Ignacio for a non-conference game at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19. Dolores County will host Mancos in a big league game at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, at Weber Park Field. Norwood 17, Mancos 14 The Mavericks strode into town and stole away a Homecoming game from Mancos at MHS Field on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 13. Norwood was a slight underdog going into the game but came out on top to take a big San Juan Basin League win. The loss eliminated Mancos from any possibilities of post-season play. The Blue Jays now must play for pride but they can be a spoiler. The Blue Jays never seemed to recover when a holding penalty pushed them back. From their own 23, Nick Rubino got loose and raced down the side lines before being pushed out of bounds at the N22. The penalty pushed them back to the N32. A sack dropped them back some more yards. They were finally forced to punt the ball, which sailed into the end zone for a touchback. "That hurt when we didn’t score, but what killed us with that missed fumbled punt," MHS head caoch Gordon Shepherd said following the game. "But we have been making mistakes like that all year. That play, too, was just part of it. We made too mistakes throughout the whole game. We just have not been executing. This has been a learning program this year for these guys. They are not going to learn it in one year, but a good foundation has been made. A lot of things need to be corrected and a lot of work still has got to be done to make this a winning program again. It will be the younger kids here who will turn the program around." Norwood marched the ball 80 yards right back down the field. The Mavs pounded the ball up the middle (Mancos had two starting tackles out with injuries). Norwood runners gained yard after yard. Facing a third-and-19, Kevin Ludwig went right up the middle for 33 yards for a touchdown with 3:48 on the clock in the first quarter. The kick was good and Norwood led 7-0. That’s the way the score would be when the quarter ended as Norwood was on the march again. Still with the ball early in the second quarter, the Mavs chewed up yardage and time. Ludwig was the big workhorse although Chancey Marolf picked up some big yards. When Norwood was running dives and traps up the middle, it went student-body left and student-body right with sweeps. Facing a fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line, Ludwig swept in for a TD with 8:37 showing. The kick was good and Norwood went up 14-0. Mancos made a nice drive following its next possession, going deep into the Red Zone to the N14. The Jays tried a 26-yard field goal, but it went wide. Norwood got the ball back and made a couple first downs but the drive stalled. The Blue Jays got the ball back at their own 35. Quarterback Kelley Smith made a nice pass over the middle for a score to Nick Rubino with 25 seconds left in the half. Clark was true on the PAT. Norwood led 14-7 at the half. After Norwood went three downs and out in its first possession of the second half, MHS picked up some momentum. The Jays had the ball in good field position at the N47. Rubino took several pitches for nice gains. Smith also found Rubino coming out of the back field for a long pass play. They worked the ball all the down to the N7 but turned the ball over on downs. Norwood failed to do much with the ball, although it did pick up a couple first downs. Mancos picked up a first down early on its next possession, but that was about it. The score remained 14-7 when the third quarter whistle sounded. The Mavericks scored early when it took advantage of keeping a drive going following a MHS dropped punt. With 7:07 left, Walker Meltzer booted a 28-yard field goal which put the Mavericks up 17-7. That was a big nail in the coffin of the Blue Jays. Mancos, though, never gave up. The Jays took the ball on their own 20 and moved the ball all the way down to the N25 before being stopped. Rubino and Scott Koppenhafer made a couple nice runs. Late in the quarter, Mancos scored when Smith scrambled and then raced 47 yards to paydirt with 4:17 left. The kick failed and Norwood held a slim 17-13 lead. Norwood got the ball back but the Mancos defense stiffened. Mancos got one last try but couldn’t move the ball. Norwood took the ball back and Meltzer took a knee for the final two plays as time ran out. The Jays fell to 0-2 in league and 3-4 overall. They play at Dove Creek this Saturday afternoon. Palisade 48, Cortez 6 Chad Kelley got the scoring started in the first quarter as no. 10 ranked Palisade rolled to its third Class 3A Western Slope Conference win Friday night, Oct. 12, at Panther Stadium. Kelley bulled his way over from 1-yard, capping a long drive on PHS’ first possession. PHS went up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter when the gun sounded. Quarterback Josh Roseberry called his own number and rolled 7 yards to paydirt. The Palisade defense held Cortez in check most of the first half. Kelley, meanwhile, scored again as he bulled his way over would-be tacklers. MCHS missed him several times and he scored from 15 yards out with 3:55 left in the half. With 1:22 showing, reserve quarterback Mike Rivas passed to Gabe Evans for a 20-yard scoring strike. MCHS tried to go for the two-point conversion but the pass failed. The Bulldogs led 21-6. Mark Wideron booted a 35-yard field goal with 5 ticks left in the half for a 24-6 lead. It was all Palisade in the second half. Kelley made it 31-6 with a 1-yard TD run with 2:19 left in the third quarter. Rivas, who subbed for Ronnie Johnson, went out of the game shaken up. Matt Knisley came in for Rivas. The Bulldogs made it 33-6 with a safety early into the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs added two more scores for the final margin. Kelley finished with 163 on 16 carries and three touchdowns. Palisade rolled up 540 yards in total offense. The Panthers fell to 1-3 in league and 1-6 overall. They travel to Rifle to meet Steamboat Springs on neutral ground for a 2 p.m. kickoff this Saturday, Oct. 20. Steamboat Springs is currently ranked no. 6 among Class 3A teams. |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez
Journal. All rights reserved. |
