Show yupipmp'l p p ipipp"lpiif orts Wednesday September 8 2004 Sanpete Messenger Sanpete Messenger-Gunniso- n All Valley Edition Gunnison pulls out win against Richfield in final three minutes By Sean Hales Staff writer GUNNISON— In a game where the Gunnison shewed flashes of brilliance depth exand an occasional plosiveness lack of discipline the Bulldogs pulled it together in the final three minutes to turn a deficit into a victory over the Richfield Wildcats last Friday Sept 3 “The last three minutes we totally dominated the game” said For the most part Bulldogs lived up to that charge However Jackson said a blown coverage and missed assignment resulted in two big plays for Richfield that put points on the board And had it not been for a penalty early in the first quarter Jackson said the game would have looked a lot different For a large part of the first quarter the game looked good for the Bulldogs Guy Zubia figured prominently with a big run that they brought it all Jackson said Going into the game against Richfield Jackson said his team needed to play in disciplined fashion avoiding penalties and other mistakes They also needed to prevent the Wildcats from set up a short touchdown run by Ben Dailey on Gunnison’s first Then Zubia made a possession big hit on the ensuing kick off and forced a fumble which he recovered On that Gunnison possession Joey Crane had a long run that put the Bulldogs on the goal line once again but the run was called back when officials imposed an illegal block penalty on the Bulldogs “We had all the momentum” said Jackson “That call really changed the impact of the game because without it we would have gone up by two scores im- making any big plays mediately” Gunnison Head Coach Rhett Jackson “And sometimes three minutes is enough” Evidence of that dominance is the fact that in the last three minutes of the game Gunnison averaged 75 yards per play “When they really needed to make plays when the chips were down together” Hawks notch SEAN HALES MESSENGER Notwithstanding that important offensive miscue the Bull- dog defense didn’t allow Richfield across tfie midpoint of the field until late in first quarter when a blown coverage produced the first Richfield score Gunnison went into half time but Richfield started leading dominating in the third quarter by making a big defensive stop of the Bulldog’s first possession and then run to take scoring on a the lead The Bulldog defense kept Richfield out of the end zone but the offense couldn’t capitalize on good field position and ball control The biggest scries of the came late in the fourth quarter when the defense stopped a Wildcat drive and the oflense got the ball on the Richfield 35 yard line with just over 2 minutes left in the game Zubia produced a big run on that possession rumble which set up his for the win with just over a minute left in the game Richfield had more than a minute to move the ball down field blit a fumble by the Wildcats with 1:14 left sealed the those the Wildcats didn’t produce a lot of offense Gunnison 302 yards of total offense Bulldog victory Jackson said that he wasn’t in his team’s too disappointed performance but continued “I’m not satisfied when they miss tackbut les or blow an assignment defensively if you take away the blown coverage and missed as14 points is pretty signment The Bulldogs will face North Summit at home next good defense" le added that the two scoring plays for Richfield netted 120 yards and that if you discounted week and Jackson said it could potentially be the biggest test yet for his team The Bulldogs will "have to stop the run” he said if they hope to beat North Summit Jackson said that Noith Summit plays smash mouth football and mixes it up occasionally with the option “They’ll be solid” he said “We’re going to have to step it up big time” first season win By Doug Johnson Sports writer MTPLEASANT — So you’ve heard that lightning never strikes in the same place twice? Last Friday evening it struck four times in Hawk Stadium as North Sanpete won its over first game of the season die Wasatch Wasps Wasatch scored easily on their first possession driving 83 yards on 12 plays which culminated in a six yard touch down run by Pat Bums to put Wasatch ahead But then lightning started striking for North Sanpete as rain fell on Wasatch’s parade Following the Wasp kickoff John Anderson caught a slant pass from Kyle Poulson on third and nine and raced 89 y arris for aTD It was the Hawks’ longest scoring play since Trevor Johnson ran a quarterback keeper for 97 yards in 2002 Lightning struck again on North Sanpete’s next possession as junior Tyson Church returned a Wasatch punt 53 yards to the Wasp line Poulson connected with AnderTD to put son again for an the Hawks ahead for the first time this season 7 third time Lightning struck early in the fourth quarter when Casey Cox hit Church with a shuttle pass for an TO The final strike came late in the fourth when Cox hit Church again this time for a score to make die final Poulson quarterbacked for the first half completing passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns He moved to tight end in the second half as Cox took over quarter back duties Cox was for 8 yards Besides die two long passes to Church Cox hit Poulson for 29 yards on the Hawks' first play of the third quarter All three of the Hawk’s big pass plays of 89 82 and 70 yards outdistanced North Sanpete’s longest pass last year and the were the longest since Alex Richards caught an TO pass against Emery in 2002 Wasatch was able to move the ball all night ending with 353 yards of total offense to North Sanpete’s 356 but the Hawk defense was able to come up with a big stop time after time lineman Kurt Sophomore Houghton pounced on a Wasp fumble at his own 33 as Wasatch was driving for what would have been a tying touchdown three minutes before halftime Midway through die third period Anderson stopped another Wasatch drive at die Hawk 26 with a leaping interception as the Wasps were threatening to score again Late in the game senior Kevin Bean scutded another Wasp scoring drive when he gathered in a fumble altheHawk25 “We weren’t going to give them the big play” said Hawk head coach Blake Timer “We wanted to contain them until they made a mistake We told our defense to be patient” Wasatch drove to the Hawk 2 midway through the final quarter but junior lineman Scott Bagley made tackles for losses to stop the Wasp threat “Bagley did a great for defense” said Turner on us job “This was the first time he got a chance to start and he was in the right place at the right time" Because of the Hawks’ long strikes and the Wasps’ lengthy unfruitdrives Wasatch possessed the ball for nearly 31 minutes to North Sanpete’s 17 minutes “We would have liked to have a good running game and maintain possession” commented Turner “But Wasatch was so good defending the rua We were just lucky we had an effective passing ful game” Anderson and Bean were each in on tackles for North Sanpete with Bean Church Bagley and Mike Mononey all coming up with sacks Bums led all rashers with 109 yards on 13 carries and Wasatch quarterback Logan Magnusson completed passes for 66 yards This week North Sanpete travels to Smithfield to take on 4A Sky View The Bobcats have been slow getting out of the gate with losses to Layton Bear River and Woods Cross Last year Sky View handed of the seaNorth Sanpete its fim in Week 4 son ks PHOTO Gunnison running back Joey Crane (20) beats two Richfield defenders around the corner before being knocked out of bounds at the goal line Unfortunately the run was called back because of a penalty but that didn’t stop the Bulldogs from notching up an exciting win against the Wildcats Remember when you were little and you saved your pennies? 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