EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
Seymour Rogers has not swept their crosstown opponents in football in 10 years, but Thursday the Apaches were able to claim a pair of victories over the Eisenhower Warriors in the annual rivalry.
The seventh grade game was dominated by Apache Carl Dean, but not before the Warriors had a strong start.
The Apaches received the opening kickoff but faced a stiff wind and was called for a pair of penalties that stalled their first drive.
A short punt landed in the hands of a Warrior near the line of scrimmage who sprinted to the right side and returned the kick to the end zone for a touchdown and an early 8-0 lead.
But the Apaches quickly responded with an 80-yard touchdown run by Dean to cut the Warriors lead to 8-6.
The Apache defense forced a Warrior punt, and this time Dean returned the kick to the end zone for a touchdown, and after bruiser Devin Romo pushed the ball in for the two-point conversion, the Apaches had a 14-8 lead.
The Apaches had one more scoring opportunity late in the first half, and Dean came through again with a 21-yard touchdown reception that gave the Apaches a 20-8 lead.
Neither team scored in the second half, and the Apaches came away with the win.
“We’ve had so much adversity this year,” Apache coach Jacob Hampton said. “Injuries, grades — but they still had the passion to play this game. We knew Eisenhower had low numbers, but I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
The Apaches added a late-season wrinkle by moving lineman Romo into the backfield reminiscent of Refrigerator Perry for the Chicago Bears in the 1980s.
“We put that in last week,” Hampton said. “It’s a great short yardage situation. We have been having some fun with it at practice. We knew we could use it today, and it worked out great.”
But the key was Dean who scored all three Apache touchdowns.
“Dean is our MVP,” Hampton said. “We couldn’t run without him. We started with him at quarterback. We had an injury at running back and had to move him. He has been able to step up and carry the team.”
And the future is even better when several injured Apaches return to the line-up next season.
“Next year will be exciting,” Hampton said. “I can’t wait to see these kids come back. Gael (Alvideriz) our quarterback has done a great job this year. He came in as the back up and had to step in Week 2, and whenever he took over the starting job he hasn’t looked back. Getting our running back Jonathan (Morales) back will be huge. We are going to do some damage next year.”
The wind played a key factor in the games Thursday, and the eighth grade started with the Apaches kicking off with the wind at their back.
The Warriors couldn’t sustain a drive and ended with a short punt.
The Apaches tried to move the ball through the air, but after three incompletions, the Apache quarterback Brandon Maldonado tossed the ball to Aiden Aragon who bolted around the left side and broke free for a 32-yard touchdown run, and after he ran in the two-point conversion the Apaches had an 8-0 lead.
Both teams had limited success moving the ball the rest of the half until the Apaches moved the ball inside the 10 yard line late in the second quarter.
With 9 seconds to play in the half, The Apaches tried a pass that was intercepted and returned by the Warriors from the 5 yard line to the Apache 2 yard line before being tackled as time expired, and the Apaches were able to maintain an 8-0 lead.
The Apaches had another scoring opportunity late in the fourth quarter but fumbled at the 2 yard line, and the Warriors recovered.
The Warriors moved the ball down near the Apache 20 yard line before the drive stalled one yard short of a first down with less than two minutes to play, and the Apaches were able to get a first down and run out the clock to secure the 8-0 win.
“That is what we want from this game, the eighth grade teams fighting it out the entire way,” Apache coach Clinton Toney said. “We want to build the high school. Those close games give me anxiety, but we want to fight the entire time. That was the game everybody wanted to see.
The apaches had a touchdown called back on a penalty and had other drives stall short of the goal line, and Toney said that he might have been getting a little too fancy with the calls.
“We tried too much,” Toney said. “We tried to dig into the playbook and put too much in there. We need to just go back to our basics. Those close calls, that could have been the nail in the coffin, but defense wins championships.”
Aragon saved a touchdown by running down a Warrior two yards short of a 95-yard pick six as time expired in the first half, a play that might have saved the game for the Apaches.
“That kid has heart,” Toney said. “He saved the game for us. His speed to run down and save a touchdown, that was a game saver.”
The Apaches and warriors will now make the move to Liberal High School next season.
“I have enjoyed this group a lot,” Toney said. “I’m excited to see how much they grow at the high school level and continue to carry on this legacy.”
As for the seventh graders who suffered several key injuries including their standout running back and other contributors who are expected to return next year, Toney said the future was bright.
“Our seventh grade group has a lot of talent,” he said. “We were down 11 from 25 to 14. When they get healthy they will be a force to be reckoned with next year.”
