The Douglas Bulldogs closed out the regular season Friday night with a 34-12 win over the Cholla Chargers on what was Mom and Dad’s night for 23 seniors.
 Bruce Whetten / Douglas Dispatch The Douglas Bulldog football team honored 23 seniors and one senior manager at halftime of Friday’s game with Cholla. Those players honored were (in no particular order) Andres Romero, Joel Bello, Hector Grijalva, CJ Teran, Manuel Burgos, Spencer Grijalva, David Figueroa, Gino Vasquez, Marco Loreto, Oscar Rios, JR Granados, Michael Blaskey, Manuel Villanueva Morgan Ramirez, Juan Escalante, Jesus Dorame, Angel Hernandez, Jorge Fragoso, Luis Anguiano, Art Gillette, Daniel Ballesteros, Daniel Palomares, Oscar Pacheco and Bryana Salazar. |
Worried that there might be a “hang over” effect the playoff bound Bulldogs showed no signs of still thinking about last week’s big win over Amphi and instead opened up the game with a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended when Oscar Rios scored on a one-yard out four minutes into the game. Mike Abrigo’s extra point kick gave Douglas a 7-0 lead.
In the second quarter the Bulldog offense and defense combined for a 21-point burst blowing the game wide open.
Hector Grijalva started things off with a 13-yard run.
Joel Bello then picked off a Cholla pass on the next possession and ran it back 51-yards for a score.
Rios then followed with his second TD of the game this one coming from 11-yards out as Douglas led 28-0 at the half.
Cholla was unable to move the ball on its first possession of the second half and the Bulldogs responded with one more drive for a score as Grijalva would score from a yard out taking a 34-0 lead following the missed extra point.
Wanting to save his players for the playoffs Bulldog football coach promptly went to his bench and put in many of the younger players.
Cholla would proceed to score 12 points off the second string unit as the Bulldogs came away with a win.
The Bulldogs had a 393-272 edge in total offense with 320 yards coming on the ground and 72 through the air.
Rios would finish with 16 carries for 139-yards and two scores; Grijalva had 14 carries for 134-yards and two scores.
AJ Acosta was 3 of 9 in passing for 49 yards while CJ Teran was 1 of 2 for 24 with his lone completion coming on a fourth down fake punt in the first quarter.
With the game winding down and the players excited about the playoffs just ahead Bulldog coaches Keith, Ron Ellsworth and Abe Grijalva were all greeted with cold showers as players dumped the water buckets on them adding an exclamation point to a rewarding season.
After the game Coach Keith said words cannot express how proud he is of his players and coaches.
“Everyone has worked so hard … it was a total team effort from the git-go not only from the staff but the players as well,” he said. “It’s wonderful to see these guys celebrate a 7-3 season.”
Ever since the loss to Santa Rita the Bulldog defense has continued to get stronger.
Bulldog defensive coach Ron Ellsworth said Cholla was pretty much one dimensional which made it fairly easy to defend.
“Their quarterback was pretty good,” he said. “He had a good arm and a good receiver.”
Ellsworth had some extra players stay back to prevent the long pass and his defensive from line did a good job of putting pressure on the Charger QB all night long – dropping him numerous times for losses.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a season like this,” he said.
Coach Ellsworth gave credit to Coach Grijlava for the job he’s done with the offensive line.
“He brought those guys together and worked their butts off,” Ellsworth said. “When Coach Keith was first announced as the head coach he had a meeting with everybody and said that first day we’re going to win or lose with an offensive line. … These kids have risen to the challenge and came through in high fashion.”
Winning solves a lot of problems and Keith says being back on the sidelines this year has been a thrill.
Ellsworth said the overall attitude of the program seems to be changing as players and coaches seem to be taking a new approach in how things are done in practice and pre-game preparations.
The coach said this team needed to learn how to win and do that against a good team. The Bulldogs took that step last week beating Amphi on their field.
“We needed to beat a playoff caliber team to get us ready for the playoffs,” he said. “They learned that last week in a very close game that could have gone either way.”
Junior varsity
The Douglas JV’s won their final game last week beating Cholla’s junior varsity 6-0 last Thursday.
The lone score of the game came in the second quarter when backup quarterback Samuel Bello scored on a seven-yard run. The play was set up by a 70-yard run by Antonio Yanez.
“Cholla was driving at the end when Bello intercepted the ball on our 30 yard line with 16 second remaining,” Douglas’ coach Clint Hill said. “I would like to thank all the kids that stuck out the season 17 of them, and their parents for their support.”
The JV’s finish the year 2-6.
Freshmen
The Douglas freshmen ended their season last Thursday with a 20-14 win over Cholla’s freshmen.
Ozzie Moreno scored first for Douglas on a three-yard run and Grant Watkins followed with a 47-yard romp giving the Bulldogs a 14-0 first quarter lead.
Cholla scored making the score 14-6 and Watkins scored again this time from two-yards out as the Bulldogs led 20-6.
Cholla scored late in the second quarter and converted the two-point conversion cutting the Bulldogs lead to 20-14.
“The second half was a defensive struggle,” Coach Gilbert Rojas said.
Rojas said Watkins finished the game with 13 carries for 210-yards
“It was a great season for this group even though we only carried 22 players they worked hard and had some success,” he said. “It was a pleasure coaching this group they did everything we asked of them and Coach Romero did an excellent job with the defense all year. We also want to thank all the parents for their support throughout the season.”
The freshmen end the year 6-2.
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