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Larks start season on positive note

Published 9/6/2008 in Sports : Area High Schools

By BRETT MARSHALL

bmarshall@gctelegram.com

SUBLETTE — It was just a year ago that the Sublette Larks opened their 2007 football season with a heartbreaking 17-14 loss at Southwestern Heights. Friday night, coach Steve Simpsons’s 2008 edition made sure there were no last minute heart-stopping events.

Using the arm of first-time starting quarterback Brett Holloway, the Larks rolled to a convincing 28-0 victory over the Mustangs in the season opener in a Hi-Plains encounter of two upper division teams. The Larks, 1-0, will hit the road next Friday in another key HPL matchup against Holcomb.

But for now, the Larks and Simpson are going to enjoy the fruits of hard work during the off-season and pre-season.

“We’ve worked the kids very hard this year,” Simpson said. “They’ve responded to it and I think it paid off tonight.”

Simpson, who had praise for the entire team’s effort, had special mention for his senior signal caller who was making his first varsity start after playing wide receiver most of his junior season while taking but a few snaps in a reserve role.

“I thought Brett played a great, great game,” Simpson said. “It was his first start and he showed a lot of poise tonight.”

The Larks’ top defensive performer, senior end Damon Simmons, also had high praise for his quarterback.

“Brett was doing exceptional back there,” Simmons said, who also plays center. “I was just so impressed with the way he played.” While the final score indicated dominance by the Larks, it wasn’t all that easy in the early going. It was more like a gradual getaway from the Mustangs.

“They’ve got a good bunch of hard-hitting, tough kids,” Simpson said of Southwestern Heights. “We had to work our tails off. They didn’t give us much on the ground but it did open things up for our passing.”

Sublette’s first score came in the late in the first quarter when Tyler Bruce ran in from three yards out and Brice Peters tacked on the first of his four perfect extra points for a 7-0 Larks lead.

Heights, meanwhile, saw its offense in neutral most of the game, being shut down by an aggressive defense that swarmed around the fleet-footed back Albert Davis (7 carries, 28 yards) and quarterback Oscar Sigala (10 rushes, 3 yards). On the night, the Mustangs managed just 54 yards on 30 attempts. The Larks weren’t much better, netting 89 yards on 42 carries.

“It was a real battle out there,” Simpson said of his team’s effort. “I felt we had the kids who could do it (shut down Heights’ offense) if they just did what we had worked on all pre-season. And they went out and did it.”

Sublette upped its lead to 14-0 in the early portion of the second period when Bruce tacked on touchdown number two with a 2-yard run. It stayed that way to halftime.

Holloway, a left-hander, was brilliant in his opening start. He completed 9-of-12 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown while also running for one touchdown to cap off the scoring in the fourth quarter. His scoring strike was to Peters and came on a third-and-10 situation at the Mustangs’ 20-yard line. That drive took 3:09 and covered 58 yards in seven plays.

“It was kind of surreal out there,” Holloway said after the game. “You’re not sure you can do it, and I did have butterflies, but it all worked well tonight.”

So well, in fact, that Holloway said he all the time in the world to find his array of receivers.

“I could have had supper back there,” Holloway said with a big smile on his face. “The receivers and the coaches came together and said the flats and some seams were open and the line just gave me time to throw.”

It was Holloway who put the final nail in the Mustang coffin when he took off on a fourth-and-goal quarterback draw to score from eight yards out with 7:23 left in the game. That capped off an impressive 17-play, 60-yard drive that milked 8 minutes, 31 seconds off the clock.

It was Simmons who credited the line on both sides for paving the way to the opening triumph.

“The hoggies (lineman) have been getting in the gym, coming together and building friendships all pre-season and it came together tonight,” Simmons said. “Last year, I think the team just kind of expected to win, but this year we just know we have to go out and give it our best and let it happen.”

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