by Joey Crandall [email protected]
As the Minico Spartans began to put together a rally late in the game Saturday morning, the 12-hour bus ride back to Minden loomed large in minds of the Douglas football team.
“I wasn’t ready to go home with a loss,” Douglas defensive lineman Zach Singer said. “It’s a long bus ride back, and I think we just got to thinking how much longer it was going to be after a loss.”
It did get close late, but the Tigers controlled the line of scrimmage for the majority of the game and pushed ahead to claim a 31-28 win over Minico at Idaho State University’s Holt Arena.
“The kids played hard,” Douglas coach Ernie Monfiletto said. “The defense did a great job dominating the front. Kids were flying to the ball. It was a great thing to see, and something I’m sure our alumni would have been proud to see with the kids playing like that.
“We got better, we had to do some creative things to keep people fresh. A lot of kids participated and contributed to getting that win.”
Douglas held a 31-14 lead after quarterback Nick Abreu punched in a 6-yard touchdown run to culminate a six-minute drive with 8:56 remaining in the game.
Minico, though, made things interesting, scoring from 2 yards out with 5:41 left to cut the score to 31-21.
Douglas drained another three minutes off the clock on its next drive before Cale Kynett placed a punt on the Minico 4-yard line with 2:40 remaining.
The Douglas defense, which forced punts on Minico’s first four drives of the second half, appeared to have the Spartans corralled again as a pass sailed over the intended receiver on Fourth-and-12 from the Tiger 44. A roughing the passer call on the play, though, gave Minico a new set of downs.
It was one of a number of miscues for the Tigers in the game, including five lost fumbles – two of which resulted directly in Minico scores.
The Spartans scored on a 30-yard pass on the next play, cutting the score to 31-28 with 40 seconds left.
“I feel like the mental errors got to us toward the end, but as soon as soon as we pulled it together and got our heads on straight we were able to close it out,” said Andrew Jensen, who started on the offensive and defensive lines for the Tigers.
The ensuing onside kick bounced out of bounds, though, and Douglas ran out the clock from there.
“It feels great just to play in that atmosphere with your teammates and pick up a win,” Douglas linebacker and running back Kaleb Foster said. “It was a good eye-opener just in seeing some things we need to work on, and also seeing how far we have come. It gives us a lot of confidence to be able to pull through when it got tough.
“Our mindset is to never give up and never let anything get us down. We are always looking to come back no matter what the score is. We have a lot of guys who work hard in practice, and coach is always telling us that the way we practice is the way we’ll play. We just like playing hard and we aren’t afraid of adversity.”
Minico got on the board first on a 36-yard pass following a Douglas fumble 10 minutes into the game. The two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score at 6-0.
The Tigers answered right back with a 67-yard catch and run by Cale Kynett who took the pass from Abreu across the middle for the touchdown. Douglas converted the extra point for the 7-6 lead.
Abreu finished the game with 8 completions on 15 attempts and 134 passing yards. He rushed for an additional 110 yards on 18 carries.
Early in the second quarter, Kaleb Foster tipped a Minico pass to himself and returned the interception 90 yards for the touchdown. The kick missed, leaving Douglas with a 13-6 lead.
Minico answered with a 65-yard bomb and converted the two-pointer for the 14-13 lead.
On the next drive, Kynett rumbled for a 33-yard touchdown and Foster punched in the two-point conversion for the 21-14 Douglas lead.
Kynett caught two passes for 73 yards in the game and rushed for 152 yards on 21 carries. Foster had four carries for 18 yards and three catches for 33 yards.
Douglas’ Adrian Gonzales kicked a 30-yard field goal on the first drive of the second half to extend the Tiger lead to 24-14.
Douglas lineman Andrew Jensen, who had 7.5 tackles on defense and some big blocks on offense, was named the game’s MVP, winning a $1,000 scholarship.
The award was presented to Jensen by Billy Hodge, the brother of former Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers running back Merrill Hodge.
“Billy was really struck by Andrew and his effort,” Monfiletto said. “It was nice to see him get recognized like that. A lot of guys played hard out there.”
TJ Duzan had one catch for 12 yards in the game as Douglas rolled up 425 yards of total offense. Foster had seven tackles defensive as the Tigers held Minico to just 13 yards on the ground.
Douglas next travels to North Valleys on Friday for a 7 p.m. game.
“We ran the ball hard. We were able to throw the ball when we had to. We still have a lot of work to do. Cale did a great job just kind of rolling over people when he carried the ball. He showed some speed on the screen pass. We saw a lot of good things today. Now we have to build on it.”
The Douglas High School football team accepts its awards at midfield of Idaho State's Holt Arena after beating Minico High School 31-28 in the Rocky Mountain Rumble on Aug. 30.
TIGERS HOLD ON TO WIN OPENER