Varsity football emerges victorious despite rough start
By Skyler Blume,
HUB Staff–
In this year’s home opener, the Blue Devils managed to defeat the Raiders 27-13. The victory extends the winning streak to three and gives Davis an overall record of 3-1.
Despite the victory, the Blue Devils had problems on offense with penalties (12 in all), costing the team 103 yards and negating a touchdown. Head coach Marc Hicks said that new players in the game caused the problems and they will be straightened out with practice.
Even though the defense allowed points on the board early, they managed to pull themselves together and keep Rio from gaining under 200 total offensive yards. A key component was Rio’s running back Connor Shatz’s gain of only 42 rushing yards, despite him getting the ball on what felt like every play.
On the first drive of the game, Rio marched downfield to quickly score a touchdown thanks to a two-yard carry by Shatz. Davis then returned possession of the ball with a fumble by senior Talek Deary.
After stopping the follow Raider drive, a hold negated a Davis touchdown. On the following play, however, senior Winfred Roberson scored after breaking through multiple tackles, tying up the game to 7-7. As the first quarter ended, Roberson ran in for another touchdown, but the Devils missed the extra point, raising the score to 13-7.
After Shatz and company scored another touchdown and missed the extra point like Davis, tying up the game. The Devils rebounded when Deary more than made up for his fumble with a 94 yard kickoff return for a touchdown, putting Davis up 20-13 at the end of the second quarter.
The second half marked the end of Rio’s attack, as they did not score thanks to increased pressure against their ground game, and two picks by the Blue Devils’ Andre Foster and Joe Dossa.
A 45 yard scoring pass to junior Nathan Curtis put the score at 27-13 in the third quarter, where it remained until the final buzzer. Devil defense held off attacks by the Raiders, and maintained the 14 point lead for the rest of the game.
Hicks said that this was a great win for the team, showing that the team can come back from an early deficit and make defensive corrections in game. This also marked the first game that Davis has broken 100 yards passing.
“Offense is clicking well, we’re doing okay. We got lots of room to improve and we will, but everything is starting to come together,” Hicks said.
Senior Brendan MacDonald sees the team getting better, even during this game. He also said that Woodland should take note of this game in preparation for the home game next week.
“Hopefully they should be ready to come at us, cause we’ll be coming at them,” MacDonald said.
