by Joey Crandall [email protected]
After battling through a scoreless first quarter Oct. 17 against Galena, the Douglas football team brought on the heavy equipment. Literally.
The Tigers filled its inverted wishbone formation with the biggest players on its roster, upped the tempo of the offense by going into a no-huddle, and ground out a 16-play drive to go up 7-0 on a two-yard keeper from quarterback Bryce James.
Douglas tacked on a 27-yard touchdown run from Kaleb Foster on its next drive and made the 14 points stick in a 14-12 win over the Grizzlies.
The Tigers improved to 3-5 overall and 1-1 in Sierra League play with the win.
“(On the first touchdown drive) We just went to a no-huddle with all heavy personnel,” Douglas coach Ernie Monfiletto said. “We put every big body we had out there, every guy over 200 pounds on the roster.”
The Tigers covered 68 yards on 15 run plays with no penalties on the drive before James punched in the score.
Douglas forced a punt on Galena’s next drive and this time covered 61 yards on eight plays with Foster sweeping to the right and taking the ball 27 yards for the 14-0 lead.
“Those kids banged away and had two successful drives in the first half,” Monfiletto said.
From there, the Tiger defense made the lead hold, turning in their second stellar performance in as many weeks.
The Tiger defensive line of Andrew Jensen. Josh Jensen, Zach Singer and Jonah Hedlund terrorized the Galena backfield throughout the game while linebackers Kaleb Foster, Reagan Roberson and Tyler Marguth recorded numerous sacks and tackles for a loss.
“We just played Black Hat defense, everyone running to the ball,” Andrew Jensen said. “We wanted to put as much pressure as we could on the quarterback. He’s a good athlete and we knew we had to keep him inside the box.”
Douglas posted an important goal-line stand from the one yard-line to open the fourth quarter and preserve a 14-0 lead and Tre Jackson later made an acrobatic break-up of a pass that would have led to a touchdown from 35 yards out with 8:24 remaining.
Tigers hold on for win over Galena
Continued from Page 5
Photo courtesy of Ron Harpin/ www.rahphotosnv.com
Josh Jensen (55) and Kaleb Foster make a tackle against Galena on Oct. 17.
terrorized the Galena backfield throughout the game while linebackers Kaleb Foster, Reagan Roberson and Tyler Marguth recorded numerous sacks and tackles for a loss.
“We just played Black Hat defense, everyone running to the ball,” Andrew Jensen said. “We wanted to put as much pressure as we could on the quarterback. He’s a good athlete and we knew we had to keep him inside the box.”
Douglas posted an important goal-line stand from the one yard-line to open the fourth quarter and preserve a 14-0 lead and Tre Jackson later made an acrobatic break-up of a pass that would have led to a touchdown from 35 yards out with 8:24 remaining.
Foster had a big sack on fourth down with 4:50 remaining.
Galena later cut into Douglas’ lead with a 17-yard touchdown pass, but Douglas blocked the point-after attempt to set the score at 14-6.
The Tigers recovered the ensuing onside kick, but fumbled the ball away on the next play. The teams then traded possessions before Galena scored on a 58-yard pass play with 1:35 remaining in the game.
Douglas broke up the 2-point pass attempt but was called for pass interference on the play.
On the second attempt, Trevor Tierney stepped in front of the pass for an interception after the defensive front flushed Galena quarterback Sonny Robison from the pocket.
“We just played like we play every down,” Jensen said. “We’re just going to play our best every time and see what happens.”
Douglas recovered the ensuing onside kick and kneeled out the clock from there.
Monfiletto noted the play of Cale Kynett, who bruised the Galena defense while carrying the ball for tough yardage throughout the game.
“He got us some tough yards and ground it out for us,” Monfiletto said.