Northern Colorado Gazette

Turnovers and poor field position mar Greeley Central opener

 

 

 

 Story and Photos

By Jim Merriott

 

The Berthoud Spartan football team defeated the Greeley Central Wildcats 47-27 at District 6 Stadium Friday night.

 

Berthoud, took advantage of four costly turnovers during the game by the Wildcats to set up the winning scores.

 

The Spartans racked up 20 first downs compared to Greeley Central’s seven. Berthoud rushed50 times for 276 yards, Greeley Central had 20 rushes for 41 yards.

 

Berthoud quarterback Zachary Ruebesam threw 15 times, completing eight passes, for 97 yards and two touchdowns. Greeley Central’s (GC) Shawn Dixon had compled 12 passes, for 99 yards, and two interceptions.

 

After the game Wildcat head coach Mike Heatherly commented. “We turned over and died. We just turned over. We didn’t play very well, we didn’t play very well in any capacity. We didn’t keep our defense off the field, we didn’t tackle, we didn’t block and we didn’t execute. It was a poorly played game on our behalf and all the credit goes to Berthoud. Those kids over there are a class lower than we are (3A), we didn’t show very well.”

 

Greeley central scored first taking their only lead of the game 7-0. The Spartans countered with their first score shortly, but missed the PAT, trailing 7-6.

 

From that point on, it was pretty much Berthoud’s game. The Wildcats fumbled in their own territory after the Spartan score giving the Berthoud a short field to work with and leading to a second score.

 

Trailing 12-7, Dixon was intercepted on the following drive in Wildcat territory, setting up the Spartan’s next score.

 

During the second quarter, Berthoud scored 27 unanswered points to take a 33-7 lead into the locker room at half time.

 

The third quarter was pretty much an even draw with neither team scoring.

 

Scoring erupted vigorously in the fourth quarter making the game much more exciting as the clock ticked out.

 

Senior running back Forest Desmond set a new school kick-off record during the game, returning the Spartan kick-off 99 yards for a score.

 

“We have a lot of work to do if we plan on doing anything in the Northern Conference….we didn’t show up today…we have some kids that make a great effort, but we need a complete team effort…we have enough seniors…we should be better than that…we are not happy at all…we are not sugar-coating anything,” Heatherly ended.

 

 

 

SCORING SUMMARY

 

 

 

1^st 2^nd 3^rd 4^th Final

 

Berthoud 6 27 0 14 47

 

Greeley Central 7 0 0 20 27

 

SCORING BY QUARTER

 

FIRST QUARTER -

 

GCHS – 9:39 – Forest Desmond, 3 run, (PAT-Julian Retana kick), six plays, 64 yards.

 

BHS – 3:55 – Chase Fraser, 5 run, (PAT -Kick failed), 12 plays, 76 yards.

 

SECOND QUARTER -

 

BHS – 11:33 Cory Ellis, 19 pass from Zachary Ruebesam, (Run failed), three plays, 48 yards.

 

BHS – 9:29 Fraser, 7 run, (PAT – Axel Ayala kick), six plays, 26 yards.

 

BHS – 5:04 Ruebesam, 1 run, (PAT-Pass failed), six plays, 18 yards.

 

BHS – 2:08 Ellis, 6 pass from Ruebesam, (PAT – Ruebesam pass to Ellis), nine plays, 53

 

yards.

 

THIRD QUARTER -

No Scoring

FOURTH QUARTER -

 

BHS – 9:02 Ruebesam, 1 run, (Ayala kick), 11 plays, 60 yards.

 

GCHS – 8:47 F. Desmond, 99 kickoff return, (Ayala kick), one play, 99 yards.

 

BHS – 8:34 Frasier, 51 run, one play, 51 yards.

 

GCHS – 6:15 F. Desmond, 8 run, (Retana kick), five plays, 43 yards.

 

GCHS – 0:37 Dominic De La Cruz, 4 run, (Run failed), five plays, 41 yards.

 

TEAM STATISTICS -

 

BHS GCHS

 

First Downs 20 7

 

Rushing-yards 50-276 20-41

 

Passing-yards 97 99

 

Comp-Att-Int 15-8-0 16-12-2

 

Sacks 8 4

 

Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-2

 

Penalty yards 8-66 5-54

 

INDIVIDUALS -

 

Rushing – BHS – Caleb Price, 1-2; Ruebesam, 23-98; Fraser, 17-134; Brad Novell, 6-42; and

 

Michael Woodiel, 3-0. Totals: 50-276.

 

GCHS – Shawn Dixon, 7-5; Forest Desmond, 4-4; Dominic De LA Cruz, 2-6; Jesus Ortega-Acevdo, 6-17; James Desmond, 1-9. Totals:20-41.

 

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