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Show If s i. tn i nrnn rri-inii mn'imrt -irinirtf iwitiMwaL-wim r - vrr'-. "11? As the referee and Ben Whitney both signal touchdown, touch-down, somewhere at the botton of the pile is Red man Robert Nakken. Nakken scored a tying touchdown touch-down in the second quarter. In spite of more total offensive yards, Cedar lost the contst 34-13 to Dixie. Homecoming The last victory wasn't meant to be By STEWART SMITH Record Reporter CEDAR CITY There is one word that will probably stay in the minds of coaches, players and fans alike of Cedar High School turnovers. Capitalizing on five Redmen turnovers tur-novers Friday, the Dixie Flyers were able to defeat Cedar City 34 to 14. Excitement ran rampant all week long at Cedar High as the Redmen prepared for their homecoming battle against the Flyers. The entire team, school and even town were anxiously waiting for Friday's game; and revenge, after being beaten earlier in the year by the Flyers, burned hot in the hearts of Redmen football players. The time seemed right for an upset, only things just didn't happen that way. The Redmen turned the ball over five times on fumbles during the contest, which proved to be the deciding point in their loss. "We just turned the ball over too many times, and Dixie has been beating people all year long because of them," coach Dave Jenson said. After Dixie scored early in the game the Redmen battled back and marked some points of their own. Taking advantage ad-vantage of a punt that was fumbled by the Flyers on their own 27-yard line the Redmen evened the score at 7-7 on a one-yard keeper by Cedar quarterback Robert Nakken. T"he second quarter saw Nakken completing several passes including one to K.C. Jones who, after an outstanding out-standing catch late in the quarter, was forced to leave the game with a knee injury. The big story was the Redmen defense. Cedar delensivemen punished the Flyers all throughout the quarter with strong rushing and excellent pass defense, and because of them the half ended in a 7-7 tie and the Flyers only getting 77 yards total offense. However the momentum switched the second half Dixie came out in the second half playing fired up football, something it lacked in the first half. "There's no question about it, they played better the second half," Jenson said. The Flyer defense forced the Redmen to fumble throughout the third and fourth quarters. "Dixie plays very opportunistic ball," Jenson said, adding ad-ding " their defense has been forcing turnovers all season. That's how they beat us the first time." The Flyer offense took advantage of every Cedar fumble by pushing hard for touchdowns. Typical of Dixie play was during the third quarter when Dave Esplin threw four straight passes including one for a touchdown to give the Flyers a 14-7 lead with 4:08 left in the quarter. The Redmen had their bright times in the quarter also. On the first possession of the quarter Nakken rolled left around the end and cut up field for a 60-yard gain to the Dixie 15-yard line. After three downs, place kicker Andy Parry was called in to attempt a field goal. Parry's kick was good; however, the points were nullified by an illegal procedure call against the Redmen. " We did play fairly well," Jenson said. Commenting on the week's preparations the coach said. "We tried to emphasize the things we could do well. Our game plan was fairly sound." The Redmen launched strong running attacks, and Jenson felt that his team ran the ball well and the Dixie team passed the ball well. Jenson also had praise . for . his -defensive players. "On three of Dixie's touchdowns they were held to fourth down situations before finally scoring." Defensive end Dan Esplin and sophomore Boyd Esplin were constantly con-stantly breaking up plays and were key factors in the Redmen defense. In the long run though it was the Redmen's inability to hold onto the ball that victimized them. The fourth quarter saw Dixie scoring three times, two of their touchdowns resulting from Cedar fumbles. Reserve quarterback Jeff Heap entered the game in the fourth quarter and was able to throw a last second touchdown pass to Craig Cardon. The extra point attempt was foiled, and a weary Redmen team saw time expire with the final score 34-13 " We've got a good bunch of kids," Jenson said. "We've got two games left, and they're going to play them to win." If Cedar can win its final two games then it can enter the playoffs as a fourth place team. After taking this week off, the Redmen will take on Springville. |