Host Empire Friday night

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The Douglas Bulldogs will officially kick off the 2012 season this Friday night when they take on the Empire Ravens at Douglas High School.

Kick off is set for 7 p.m.

The Bulldogs scrimmaged the 5A Buena Colts last week in front of a decent sized crowd at Armando DeLucas Stadium.

Buena’s new “Spread Coast” offense exploited some weaknesses in the Douglas defense scoring touchdowns on the second, third and fifth plays of the 10 play opening series.

No score was kept in the scrimmage but Buena’s first string offense which had size and speed created problems for the Bulldogs.

When Douglas went on offense Grant Watkins scored some elusiveness at tailback and Dylan Guerrero, Ozzie Moreno and Nick Ortega all showed positive signs when carrying the ball.

Sophomore quarterback Blaze Rose, who has just one varsity snap to his credit in the game last year against Bisbee, showed some decent arm strength connecting on some passes to receivers Fernando Chacon, Matt Nelson and Mark Romero.

After the scrimmage Bulldog football coach Dick Keith said he saw some good things but also saw some things he’s somewhat concerned about and needs to address this coming week.

“Buena is a much better football team than they were last year,” the coach said. They are big up front.”

Buena has a new coach that seems to have brought a new attitude to the program as well as a new system.

“I like scrimmaging Buena because it’s a good test for us,” the coach said. “It shows our weaknesses and some of our strengths.”

Keith said for the most part Rose “did fine.”

“He’s a sophomore quarterback who mad some mistakes tonight,” the coach said. “I was happy he finally got some exposure to someone other than his teammates. … Going against a team like Buena I thought he did quite well.”

The coach said Rose is fast, throws a good football and will only get better.

In the backfield the coach said his backs ran the ball well.

Watkins will miss the season opener Friday night due to a suspension that occurred in the Bulldogs final state baseball playoff game last year which was a loss. As a result of that suspension the A.I.A. has ruled he must sit out Friday’s opener against Empire.

“I thought our backs tonight did ok,” the coach said. “Some mistakes were made. They didn’t take the ball inside as much as I would have liked and chose to run outside.”

Keith said while his offensive line also made some mistakes he was pleased for the most part with the effort they displayed against Buena.

“To a man, with the exception of Jason Linden, they were outsized tonight,” the coach said. “All our linemen have tremendous leg strength. It’s just a matter of getting after it.”

The coach doesn’t expect to face another team like Buena until the season finale which is at Cienega.

Bulldog defensive coach Levi Salazar felt the opening series scores were attributed to some jitters as well as inexperience against Buena’s new style of offense.

“Once we settled down we were ok,” he said. “What we were looking at is seeing if these kids were going to be able to hit. … We wanted to see them attack the ball and make hits.”

The coach said his defense also needs to do a better job of wrapping up and not allowing opposing players to break free after the initial hit.

“We wanted them to be at their assignments when they were supposed to be and for the most part they were,” Salazar said. “I saw some good things. Seeing what I saw tonight I know what I have to work with.”

Starting this Friday night its 10 straight weeks of Friday night football.