Douglas football rolls past Fallon

After Douglas fullback Brandon Lowrance took the second play from scrimmage 61 yards for a touchdown just 51 seconds into the game, one just had a feeling it was going to be a one-sided battle.

The Tiger football team didn't stop running from there, gaining a total of 297 yards on the ground with nine different ball carriers getting their hands on the ball as Douglas pushed ahead for a 41-0 victory over Fallon in Minden Friday night.

"We have some backs who will lay it on you and it all comes down to those guys up front," Douglas coach Mike Rippee said. "They'll open the holes and the guys were there to run through them."

Douglas got superb blocking throughout the game from its line of Mike Colyer, Trevor McCarthy, Parker Robertson, Curtis Hartzell, Jordan Volk, Kevin Emm and Jeff Nady while Brock Peterson (20 carries, 109 yards, 2 touchdowns), WIll Sheerin (5-54-1) and Lowrance (3-68-1) provided the bulk of the payoff in the game.

"Fallon hits hard and I have a lot of respect for them, but we did what we had to and came away with a win," Rippee said.

Quarterback David Laird hit Emm, a tight end, for a 25-yard touchdown strike midway through the third quarter to round out Douglas' offensive production.

Laird completed his first four passes of the night on his way to a seven-completion, 105-yard performance.

"David had a very good game tonight," Rippee said.

For as sparkling as the Tiger offense was, things were a bit more lopsided on defense.

Douglas' defensive front held the Greenwave to minus-4 yards on the ground on 23 carries.

"That's what we have to do," Rippee said. "We have to seal up that front. Our whole philosophy is that you have to play great defense to win football games."

Greenwave quarterback Dexter Daum complete seven passes for 91 yards, but found a nemesis in Douglas cornerback Tanner Thomas, who picked off three passes in the second quarter alone.

Thomas made his first grab, an acrobatic leaping catch that he stole out of the Greenwave receiver's hands, early in the second. Douglas scored on its next drive and five plays into Fallon's ensuing drive, Thomas came up with another interception.

Fallon's Ryan McCormick picked Laird off two plays later, and the Greenwave was able to drive down to the Douglas 6 with time dwindling in the half.

Fallon was sitting at first-and-goal with less than a minute left but was stopped on three consecutive plays before Thomas again came up big, this time picking off a pass at the 1-yard line and returning it all the way back for a 99-yard touchdown with no time remaining.

Fallon was led by Joe Don Baker, who caught four passes for 37 yards and Anthony Woller, who had three carries for 12 yards. Fallon got a couple of gift-wrapped packages from the Tigers, including three-fumbled punt returns, two of which were lost on one drive, and 95-yards worth of penalties.

"We some some good things tonight, but we have to hold onto the football," Rippee said. "We have to get away from those things. We had some silly penalties that are just not a part of our program. We can't do those types of things and expect to be where we want to be."

Defensively, Emm came up with two sacks for Douglas and Jeff Nady had a sack and a fumble recovery. Anthony Alvitre had a fumble force.

The Tigers, who improved to 2-1 overall on the year, open up league play next Saturday against Wooster.