After forcing the home team to punt on its opening drive, the Bears marched downfield for the first score of the game.
Following pickups on the ground by Logan Fuller and Skieler Grooms, junior quarterback Justin Purkat connected with Fuller for a 14-yard pickup.
Two plays later, Purkat hit Talon Zwicker for a 20-yard touchdown pass to go up 6-0.
The Bears would strike again on their next possession with a 2-yard TD pass from Purkat to Fuller to go ahead 12-0 and cap off a 66-yard drive that stretched into the second quarter.
Purkat helped himself later in the second by picking off Shiprock QB Darnell Chee and returning it to the Chieftains 21-yard line.
After a loss of three on a toss play, Purkat found Tristan Medina in one-on-one coverage on the left side and lofted a 24-yard strike to the senior for the Bears’ third score to go up 18-0.
The Chieftains got on the board in the closing moments of the second quarter on a 16-yard TD pass from Darnell Chee to Donovan Chee. After converting the 2-point conversion, Dolores led 18-8 at the break.
The third quarter opened with the two teams trading turnovers, but then late in the frame, the Chieftains put together an 85-yard drive that culminated with 12-yard touchdown run by Steve Lara to pull within four at 18-14.
Shiprock was gaining momentum after two consecutive scores.
But Fuller took the ensuing kickoff 70 yards to set up the Bears offense at the Chieftains 13-yard line.
It took just one play for Purkat to scramble outside and make his way to the end zone to finalize the scoring on the evening, as Dolores went on to win 24-14.
The Bears offense was simple, yet balanced.
“We wanted to remain simple with the game plan because we’ve got a lot of younger kids,” explained head coach Chris Trusler. “We’re wanting guys to get experience getting repetitions. So that was kind of our plan, was to get better at the things we already know how to do before we start opening up the bag of tricks.”
Purkat finished the evening 15 for 23 with 158 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. And as Trusler noted, one of the positives he saw was how the team was able to spread the ball around.
Fuller, Medina and Zwicker each hauled in receiving touchdowns, and Purkat, Medina, Grooms, Fuller, Austin Hackney and Forest Pejsa combined for 239 yards on the ground.
Grooms led with 89 yards on 17 carries and Purkat finished with 11 carries for 72 yards and a score.
The Dolores defense wound up with 4 sacks, 10 tackles for loss and 6 takeaways.
Hezekiah Stinson had 3 sacks and recovered 2 fumbles, Wade Charles had a sack, Bryce Baumgarten recovered a fumble, and Hackney, Medina and Purkat each had interceptions.
Pejsa led the Bears in tackles with 14 total, and Hackney and Zwicker each recorded 11.
Dolores (1-1, 0-0 1A Southern Peaks League ) will next travel to Pueblo to take on Dolores Huerta Prep (0-2, 0-0 1A Sante Fe League) on Friday at CSU-Pueblo.
