{"id":37198,"date":"2022-11-19T20:01:57","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T03:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-beats-mancos-in-state-semis-will-play-for-the-8-man-title\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:36:10","slug":"dove-creek-beats-mancos-in-state-semis-will-play-for-the-8-man-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-beats-mancos-in-state-semis-will-play-for-the-8-man-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Dove Creek beats Mancos in state semis, will play for the 8-man title"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dove
Dove Creek's Cole Taber (8) escapes Mancos\u2019 Broc Imel (15) during CHSAA Class 1A 8-man semifinals Saturday at Soper Sports Complex. Taber broke multiple tackles on the run for a touchdown. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Ten years ago, this Dove Creek class believed that when they got to high school, they could do something special.<\/p>\n

Make that something unprecedented.<\/p>\n

For the first time in a storied program\u2019s decades of football, the Dove Creek Bulldogs will play for a state title, advancing to the eight-man championship game with an emphatic 44-14 victory over rival Mancos.<\/p>\n

In front of a whole town of support, head coach Shane Baughman\u2019s Bulldogs soaked in the moment after the clock hit triple-zeroes, as family and friends flooded the Soper Sports Complex field to celebrate the historic achievement.<\/p>\n

\"Dove
Dove Creek's Taber DeJane outleaps Mancos' Levi Martin (18) and Andrew Jaime (3) for a touchdown in the Class 1A 8-man semifinals Saturday at Soper Sports Complex in Dove Creek. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Protected
Protected from Mancos' Cole Dainty-Guilfoyle (34), Dove Creek quarterback Kade Hankins launches a deep pass Saturday in the Class 1A 8-man semifinals at Soper Sports Complex in Dove Creek. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mancos'
Mancos' Levi Martin (18) struggles to break free from Dove Creek's Kade Hankins (11) in the 8-man semifinal Saturday in Dove Creek. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mancos'
Mancos' Isaiah Martinez (22) bats away a pass intended for Dove Creek's Taber DeJane (32) in the Class 1A 8-man semifinals Saturday at Soper Sports Complex in Dove Creek. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mancos
Mancos quarterback Ayden Mathews (7) fires a pass over Dove Creek's Kendall Gardner (6) in the Class 1A 8-man semifinals Saturday at Soper Sports Complex in Dove Creek. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Completing
Completing a long touchdown reception, Mancos' Andrew Jaime (3) strides away from Dove Creek's Taber DeJane (32) in the Class 1A 8-man semifinals Saturday at Soper Sports Complex in Dove Creek. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek's Cole Taber (8) receives a spirited welcome from head coach Shane Baughman (white jacket) upon returning to the Bulldogs' sideline after scoring a touchdown Saturday in the 1A 8-man semifinals. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek's Cole Taber (left) receives congratulations from Audric Chadd (52) after scoring a touchdown Saturday in the Colorado 8-man semifinals at Soper Sports Complex. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Not
Not a cloud was in the sky over the Soper Sports Complex Saturday as Dove Creek hosted Mancos in the Class 1A 8-man Playoffs' semifinal round. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Now, after no area eight-man program had ever stepped on to the state title game prior to last year, southwest Colorado is sending their second representative in as many years to play at the Thunderbowl on the campus of CSU-Pueblo this upcoming Friday, Nov. 25 at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

Suffice to say that this day-after-Thanksgiving, the Bulldogs will still have plenty of be grateful for.<\/p>\n

After slugfests in their last four encounters with Mancos, with each team taking two in the series, both teams entered the contest knowing that physicality would play a prominent role in deciding a victor.<\/p>\n

Advantage, Dove Creek.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs controlled the line of scrimmage for most of the game against the No. 3 seed Bluejays, rushing for over 300 yards as a team behind sturdy blocking from the offensive line of seniors Audric Chadd, Gaige Cressler, and Dustin Glover, as well as juniors Tyson Beanland and Mike Coffey.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur line was doing a great job getting push up the middle,\u201d said senior quarterback Kade Hankins, \u201cand that just opened up the field so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

After stopping Mancos on the game\u2019s first possession, Dove Creek took a bit of good fortune to open the scoring. On a fourth-and-seven in Mancos territory, Bulldogs captain Hankins lofted a pass to the back of the end zone, where a cluster of Bulldogs receivers and Bluejay defenders converged on the jump ball.<\/p>\n

Junior receiver Taber Dejane ripped the ball away from his own teammate, senior Kendall Gardner, unaware in the moment that the two Bulldog teammates were tussling for the same catch.<\/p>\n

From there, the \u2018Dogs limited the vaunted Bluejays attack, looking to keep juniors Kail Wayman and Levi Martin in check. The Bluejays punted the ball on their subsequent possessions, and Dove Creek started to build up a head of steam on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been wanting this our whole lives,\u201d said senior Bulldogs linebacker Quaden Huffaker, \u201cand so we\u2019ve been training really hard to get to this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jays had kept Gardner and junior Gage Buffington under wraps in their first meeting during the regular season, but this time, the multipronged Bulldogs rushing attack started to find gaps in the defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were amped up today,\u201d said Gardner, \u201cand the O-line did a great job, and we were able to follow their blocks all day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hankins, after having been limited in the first quarter to under 20 yards rushing, finally broke free in the second \u2013 escaping around the left end, fighting off a Bluejays defender along the sideline, and staying in bounds to double the home team\u2019s advantage midway through the second quarter, with DC up 12-0.<\/p>\n

The Bluejays comeback took a hit when the ensuing Mancos drive resulted in a fumble at midfield, giving the Bulldogs their first of four takeaways on the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Dove Creek wasted no time returning to the punishing ground game to efficiently move the ball downfield, before Gardner broke loose from 25 yards, giving DC a 20-0 lead.<\/p>\n

Then, right before half, Gardner came up with an interception on a swing pass near midfield, returning it deep into Mancos territory. The Bulldogs cashed in on the very next play, as Hankins connected with Buffington from 25 yards, building a stunning 28-0 lead heading in to the locker room.<\/p>\n

Mancos opened the second half with a jolt, recovering an onside kick, before producing their most effective drive of the day. Senior quarterback Ayden Mathews took to the ground, churning out hard-earned yards to put the Jays in a goal-to-go situation. The signal-caller dialed up his own number, leaning in from a yard out to get Mancos on the board and the visiting fans back in the game.<\/p>\n

The momentum, however, was short-lived.<\/p>\n

Dove Creek responded with a 90-second drive on a short field, scoring on another slash-and-dash from Gardner, and the Bulldogs restored their fourscore lead, 36-8.<\/p>\n

Another Mancos turnover, followed immediately by a highlight-reel run from senior Cole Taber \u2013 where the senior broke four tackles on his way to the end zone from 45 yards out \u2013 allowed the home crowd to start to celebrate, with the \u2018Dogs out in front 44-8.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe focused on the fundamentals,\u201d said Taber, of his team\u2019s plus-four turnover margin, \u201cwe knew that if we took care of those, we\u2019d be able to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mathews connected on a fantastic strike to junior Andrew Jaime from 35 yards to give the Bluejays a glimmer of hope, but Dove Creek extinguished any visions that the Jays would get any closer after their third fumble recovery of the game sealed the win.<\/p>\n

Dove Creek was led by Hankins\u2019 114 yards rushing, to go along with two passing scores. Gardner added 86 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Buffington rushed for 82 yards and collected a receiving touchdown.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Dogs limited Mancos to less than 250 yards of total offense, as Mathews served as the Bluejays\u2019 leading rusher with 51 yards, while throwing for 110 yards. Martin added 47 yards on the ground for the Jays.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defensive line did a great job hitting them hard,\u201d said Huffaker, \u201cand it allowed the linebackers to fill in their gaps and shut them down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played on their side of the ball a lot,\u201d added Gardner, \u201cand we were swarming on every snap.\u201d<\/p>\n

The journey for Dove Creek continues into the state title game, where the \u2018Dogs will face No. 4 Simla (12-0), who provided one of the big surprises of the weekend with a 27-20 upset of defending state champion Haxtun. The Cubs won League 3, and have beaten the three \u2018H\u2019s through the first three postseason weeks \u2013 Hayden (48-0), Holly (31-22), and Haxtun, to advance to the championship game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the whole town with us on our backs \u2013 and they\u2019ve been there for us ever since we were at the peewee level,\u201d said Hankins of the tremendous community support, \u201cand we proved that we belong in the state championship game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis team set their goals high at the beginning of the year,\u201d said Baughman, \u201cand I couldn\u2019t be prouder of this group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dove Creek\u2019s Friday night bout against Simla will be broadcast, beginning at 5:30 p.m., on local radio station 98.7 FM KRTZ, and available online at krtzradio.com. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. from the Steel City, with the state title on the line, as the Cubs seek their sixth state title in football, while Dove Creek looks to win their first in their maiden appearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to do this for the first time in Dove Creek history,\u201d reflected Taber, \u201cit\u2019s the best feeling in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bulldogs control line of scrimmage in front of big crowd, will make first trip to finals<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[39,926,28,37,445,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-37198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-football","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37198","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=37198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83582,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37198\/revisions\/83582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37198"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=37198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}