The Dove Creek offense caught fire on Friday against Sangre de Cristo.
But they really knew things were clicking after Ricky Adams’ highlight play in the second quarter.
The Bulldogs led 24-14 in the second, after two Jordan Ernst rushing scores and a Case Baughman 19-yard touchdown run, and Sangre de Cristo’s scores stemming from a wild pick-six on a botched punt and a 61-yard touchdown rush by Cole Cooper.
That’s when Ernst dropped back from his own 41-yard line and connected with senior Ricky Adams on a short pass.
Adams turned upfield with two defenders to beat.
He gave one a stiff-arm to break free, but the second Thunderbird defender wrapped him up near the Sangre de Cristo 25-yard line.
Unable to escape, Adams glanced over his shoulder and lateralled the ball to a trailing Shane Fury, who carried it the rest of the way for Dove Creek’s fourth touchdown.
“No, we’ve never practice that before,” head coach Shane Baughman laughed after the game. “We told them at the first of the year, if you see something and you think you can make a play, we want you to make a play.”
Adams’ quick thinking gave Dove Creek a 30-14 led heading into halftime, and they wouldn’t look back.
Ernst hit a wide open Baughman for a 31-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, and Baughman scored again minutes later on a 46-yard sweep.
The Bulldogs scored three more times in the final quarter. Ernst and Baughman hooked up again for a 26-yard touchdown pass, and Ernst later found junior Scott Gatlin for a 52-yard touchdown pass.
Ricky Adams punched in the Bulldogs’ final score on a 52-yard interception return, with the final score 66-20 in favor of Dove Creek.
“We didn’t throw as much as we wanted to,” Baughman said. “We wanted to try and pound the ball on the ground and use our big guys up front.”
Offensive linemen Spencer Gatlin, Beau Hemphill and Dante Gallegos paved the way for the Bulldogs 335 rushing yards. Ernst ran for 180 yards and two scores and Baughman had 106 yards and two touchdowns.
After establishing the run, the Bulldogs went to the air.
Ernst was 9-14 on the day with 188 yards and three touchdowns.
Ricky Adams had four catches for 74 yards, Scott Gatlin had two catches for 55 yards and a score, and Baughman pulled in three passes for 59 yards, but turned three catches into two scores.
The Bulldogs defense limited the Sangre de Cristo offense, but missed assignments led to big plays.
“It’s kinda like Norwood,” Baughman said. “We just gave up that one big play. Then the fullback hit us right up the middle. And that kid was tough, I mean he ran some guys over, so credit to them.”
The Gatlin brothers led the defense, with Scott racking up 18 total tackles and two sacks and Spencer totaling 12 tackles as well as a sack.
The Bulldogs’ will follow up their 66-20 victory with a game next Friday at Sierra Grande (1-2) at 4 p.m.