Dover Dragon football at Hastings Thursday
By John M. Benson
September 19, 2007
Dover football plays on Thursday this week, traveling to Hastings to play at 4:30 p.m. on September 20.
Head coach Frank Smith looked ahead and said, “Dover and Hastings are both 1-1 on the season. We lost 33-0 to Westlake, and Westlake beat Hastings 14-12, so we have our hands full. It is going to be a tough one.
Hastings, the team we play this week, has a very unorthodox defense, and we are working very hard in preparation this week. They are a very aggressive team, and we are going to have to ready to play and play hard.
Dover evened the season record at 1-1 last week at Woodlands, where coach Smith thought the Dragons played well enough to win, but stopped themselves too often.
“We needed to get a win at Woodlands and we did,” Smith said after the game. “Our score was from Derek Sanchez on a pitch sweep to the left, and he was able to turn the corner and score. Mark Arena caught a pass from Greg Emerson for the 2-point conversion, and that score stood, and it was in the second quarter.
“It was pretty much a defensive battle. We had other opportunities to score. Two or three times we drove it down deep and then basically stopped ourselves.
“Chris Rizo carried the ball 20 times for 101 yards, and everybody else had 40 or 50 yards, so we moved the ball, we just couldn’t punch it in. Rizo gained two or three yards on each carry on his own, and we are able to just pound it inside with Chris.
“Our backs were running behind the line anchored by Kevin Moore and Dylan Young. Dylan Young is back and playing, and that is very important to us. He definitely made a difference in this game, and we were glad to see him back in uniform. He was the workhorse for us.
“Kevin Moore did a great job at center for us. They have a very good nose guard, and he was a non-factor in this game, because Kevin did such a good job. Kevin is also the motivator on this team, he really keeps the guys loose and fired up.”
But as Smith said, because the Dragons kept stopping themselves, the games was a defensive contest.
As Smith said, “Defensively on our side, we only allowed them 43 yards rushing, so we pretty much shut them down with our defense. Woodlands is a big passing team, and we really pressured the quarterback, so he didn’t have much time to throw.
“We got one interception from Andrew Felix that he returned 57 yards down to the Woodlands 18-yard line, but we stopped ourselves again.
“On the defensive side of the ball, I thought both of our ends did a good job, Joe Cook and Mark Arena. The tackling was led by Anthony Ferraro, who had seven solo tackles at inside linebacker.”
Dover starting lineup on offense, from the left side, Joe Cook, Dylan Young, Eric Robbins and Matt Tipping at left tackle, Kevin Moore, Eddie Bouton, Bill Greenlease and Mark Arena on the line. At wings they have Derek Sanchez and Anthony Ferraro, Chris Rizo at fullback and Greg Emerson at quarterback.
On defense, coach Smith starts Kevin Moore and Bill Greenlease at the tackles, Joe Cook and Mark Arena at the ends, Chris Rizo and Anthony Ferraro at the inside linebackers, Derek Sanchez and Craig Eisenhut at the outside linebackers, Justin Campbell, Andrew Felix and David Sanchez rotate at the corners, and Greg Emerson at safety. They also rotate in Matt Tipping, Eddie Bouton and Jimmy Brown and others, and will mix it up on defense. |
