{"id":31697,"date":"2023-09-17T01:21:16","date_gmt":"2023-09-17T07:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-dominates-hayden-in-home-opener\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:44:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:44:43","slug":"dove-creek-dominates-hayden-in-home-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-dominates-hayden-in-home-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Dove Creek dominates Hayden in home opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Gage
Gage Buffington breaks free down the sideline for a Dove Creek first down. The Bulldogs beat Hayden 50-0.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

Sam Green\/Special to The Journal\n<\/p>\n

For Bulldogs head coach Jason Fury, Dove Creek\u2019s home opener served as an opportunity to \u201creset.\u201d<\/p>\n

The turbocharged Bulldogs took the message to heart, firing on all cylinders in front of their home crowd at the Soper Sports Complex to cruise past Hayden 50-0.<\/p>\n

After watching their 15-game winning streak snapped in their loss against Melrose, New Mexico, the previous week, Fury needed little motivation to get the Bulldogs fired up to correct their miscues and get back to the high-octane football that fans in Dolores County had become accustomed to witnessing.<\/p>\n

Dove Creek (3-1) raced out to a five-touchdown lead at halftime, with senior Taber Dejane finding pay dirt three times in the comprehensive victory. The defense, meanwhile, stymied the visiting Tigers all evening, with senior Mike Coffey leading a defensive line effort that gave Hayden (2-1) junior quarterback Ethan Silva fits.<\/p>\n

\"Taber
Taber Dejane takes off for a Dove Creek touchdown Friday night as the Bulldogs beat Hayden 50-0.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

Sam Green\/Special to The Journal\n

\"With
With Nic Aragon leading the way to block, Colton Fury heads for the end zone as the Bulldogs beat Hayden 50-0.
\nSam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cody
Cody Alexander celebrates with Taber Jane after he caught a pass in the end zone for Dove Creek.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

Sam Green\/Special to The Journal\n<\/p>

Alongside junior Sheldon Gardner and senior Gage Buffington, Coffey and the Bulldogs pushed the Tigers backward on each of their opening five possessions, with several \u201cmeet you at the quarterback\u201d sacks shared by the dynamic defensive front.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur defensive ends were shutting down the sidelines,\u201d said Coffey of the dominant defensive effort, \u201cand so when they tried to run up the middle, the nose guards were able to plug up the holes. We were working like a well-oiled machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardner and Coffey combined for a handful of emphatic tackles for loss of Tigers in the backfield, while the Bulldog secondary limited Hayden to fewer than five pass completions on the night.<\/p>\n

When Dove Creek had possession, they wasted little time to move the ball downfield, following behind junior center Liam Hassell to spring the various Bulldog ball carriers for big gains. Dejane broke free from 44 yards on the first D.C. possession to open the scoring to cap a 70-yard drive.<\/p>\n

Less than three minutes later, after another Hayden three-and-out, senior quarterback Colten Fury laced a pass into the end zone to classmate Cody Alexander for a 20-yard score, and the rout was on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve solved some of the big problems we had from the first few weeks of the season,\u201d added Coffey of the offensive showcase, \u201cand now we\u2019re able to fine tune the next things we need to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dove Creek added two more touchdowns from Dejane in the second quarter, including a highlight-reel screen from 47 yards where the Bulldog slashed across the field behind blockers before outracing the Hayden secondary to the goal line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Taber (Dejane) cuts back, he\u2019s able to get defenders on their heels,\u201d said Fury of his two primary running backs, \u201cand he and Gage offer different styles of running \u2013 they play off each other well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buffington scored to push the lead to 30-0 late in the second quarter, before the \u2018Dogs added one more touchdown heading into the intermission on a 10-yard run from Dejane.<\/p>\n

Fury punched in a rushing TD to move the game to the mercy-rule running clock, before sophomore Josh Kibel broke free for a score in the waning moments for the icing on the cake.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Nic Aragon enjoyed a field day from his linebacker spot, helping Dove Creek contain the edges on the defensive side of the ball to preserve the shutout.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defense really stepped up tonight,\u201d included Fury, \u201cour kids were really stepping forward and making plays \u2013 we made a couple of changes from last week \u2013 and I\u2019m really excited how they came out and played.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs utilized their team speed to string out plays around the end, which allowed plenty of yellow helmets to fly to ball on each snap. \u201cWe\u2019ve preached 5-5-9, which is getting five people within five yards of the ball, 90% of the time \u2013 and I thought our kids did really well with that tonight,\u201d commended Fury.<\/p>\n

A busy week awaits the Bulldogs, as Homecoming Week will pit Dove Creek against their border rivals Monticello for a Friday night battle back on their home turf. Kickoff is schedule for 7 p.m. from the Soper Sports Complex on Sept. 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bulldogs bounce back from first loss in style<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-31697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81533,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31697\/revisions\/81533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31697"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=31697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}