PHOENIX – The Douglas Bulldogs put on quite a show Friday night in the first round of the 4A DII state playoffs.

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The Bulldogs defense smothered an Arcadia team that had been scoring an average of 47 points per game and actually held them 30 points below their average coming away with a 35-17 win.

The playoff win was Douglas’ first since 1989 when Dick Keith’s squad beat Kingman 8-6 that year at Kingman. The following week however the Bulldogs fell to the Agua Fria Owls.

Up next for Douglas this week is No. 2 Glendale Cactus who is 10-1 on the season and coming off a 69-7 win over Mohave last Friday night in first round play. That game will take place this Friday at 7 p.m. at Cactus High School in Glendale.

Cactus runs the ball right at you behind their big offensive line and dares you to stop them. They have a running back, Alan Woods, who has run for over 2,000 yards this season and has scored 31 touchdowns counting what he did last week.

Going into Friday’s game with Arcadia the Douglas coaches knew they were going to have to stop a team that had plenty of speed at both running back and receivers.

The Titans kicked off to Douglas to start the game. Spencer Grijalva took the handoff, lateraled it back to Bello who used his speed to find a hole and sprint 90-yards for a touchdown giving Douglas a quick lead less than 10 seconds into the game.

Arcadia came right back on its next possession and drove 75 yards in eight plays scoring from three-yards out tying the game at 7-7.

Three plays into their next possession Bello personally showed the Arcadia coaches, players and fans his speed running up the Arcadia side of the field on his way to a 65-yard touchdown run giving Douglas a 14-7 lead following Mike Abrigo’s successful extra point.

The lead and any momentum the Bulldogs had was short lived however as Arcadia would run the ensuing kickoff back 95-yards for a score deadlocking the game at 14-14.

A defensive battle ensued from this point as both teams failed to sustain any drive.

Finally with 76 seconds left in the half Arcadia kicked a 22-yard field goal taking a 17-14 lead at the half.

The Bulldogs opened up the second half with some trickery booting an unexpected onside kick which was recovered by Douglas. Two incomplete passes and a one-yard run was all that Douglas got from this possession before punting the ball back to Arcadia.

Two plays into their possession Arcadia went to the air where Bello was waiting picking off the pass and running it back 27-yards for a score giving the Dogs a 21-17 lead.

Bello picked off Arcadia a second straight time on the next possession but the Bulldogs were unable to convert punting the ball back over to the Titans.

The Bulldog defense again held forcing another Arcadia punt. This punt however would result in a Douglas touchdown. The Titan punter mishandled the ball and it went into the end zone. Instead of kicking it out and giving Douglas the safety the punter picked up the ball and threw it into the air where Marco Loreto intercepted it – took two steps and was in the end zone for a touchdown giving Douglas a 28-17 lead.

Still not comfortable with the lead the Bulldogs again went for the onside kick and again recovered.

Quarterback CJ Teran hit Hector Grijalva with a big third down pass that gave Douglas a first and goal at the Titan four. The next play saw Oscar Rios plow his way into the end zone and the Douglas players and their estimated 500 fans from all over the Phoenix area plus those who had made the trip where celebrating.

In nine minutes of the third quarter the Bulldogs had scored 21 straight points on Arcadia and had a comfortable 35-17 lead.

From this point one the Bulldogs just played solid defense. The Bulldogs scored again in the fourth quarter on an interception but a penalty against Douglas nullified that score.

The Bulldogs were also on the verge of scoring again late in the fourth but instead opted to go for the kneel down despite being at the Titan four-yard line.

Players and coaches celebrated as the Bulldog faithful cheered knowing a 20 year demon had been removed.

Coach Keith said after the game his kids never quite Friday night and really wanted to win this game.

“These kids fought so hard tonight,” he said. “I am so proud of them.”

The coach said Coach Ellsworth and his defense was superb.

“This quarterback Arcadia has is a fine athlete,” Keith said. “Coach Ellsworth emphasized we had to put pressure on him and that’s exactly what happened. We had him on the run – he was unable to set his feet and he made some mistakes which led to points for us.”

Not counting the interception that was negated by penalty the Bulldogs had four picks Friday night all in the second half.

The coach said while his team did punt the ball a lot Friday night the offensive game plan was to take as much time off the clock as possible which is what his team did.

“These kids found ways to make plays all night long from all sides of the ball,” he said. “What a tremendous win for this program.”

Ellsworth was beaming with pride at how well his defense played.

“Douglas should be proud of their Bulldogs,” he said. “These guys really stepped up tonight.”

The coach said his defensive front line did a good job of putting pressure on the QB forcing him to run around all night long and the defensive backs had solid coverage on whoever was downfield.

“He had no place to throw it but out of bounds and one time he tried to throw it out of bounds Bello was over there waiting for the ball,” he said.

Ellsworth said the crowd that was there supporting the Bulldogs actually made the road game feel like a home game.

“Maybe we’re on the road because we’re on the bus but when we’re on the field we feel like we’re at home because of the fans we have supporting us,” he said. “This was an awesome crowd tonight. I hope we see them next week at Cactus.”