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Summit High football sacked by Battle Mountain

BRYCE EVANS
summit daily news
Summit County, Colorado

FARMER’S KORNER – For the second straight week, Summit dominated on defense. And for the second straight week, Summit sputtered on offense.

The Tigers were shut out Friday night at home by Battle Mountain, ending a five-year winning streak against their Shrine Pass rival and starting the season 0-2 for the first time under head coach Dylan Hollingsworth.

“Our defense was phenomenal,” Hollingsworth said. “For two weeks in a row, we had just one missed play, and that happens. But offensively, we have to get the ball in the end zone, we have to put a drive together, and we couldn’t do it.”



Senior Michael Daigle rushed for 109 yards for Summit, but the team was constantly slowed by penalties, dropped passes and missed assignments.

All the mistakes added up, and Summit didn’t threaten to score all night.



“Mentally, offensively, that’s two weeks in a row,” Hollingsworth said. “I’m taking full responsibility. I’m the offensive coordinator, and that’s on me. Offsides penalties, a couple turnovers, dropped passes – I’ve got to get this right, and we’ve got to get it worked out.”

Battle Mountain, meanwhile, played the game without its starting quarterback Jake Engle, who went down earlier in the week with an injury. Really, the Huskies went the whole night without much offense at all.

With junior Eric Weiss starting the game under center, Battle Mountain threw the ball just five times all night, only twice after halftime and once for a pick.

And while the Husky running attack was solid, it was one big play that made the difference in the game. Junior Reeve Sanders busted a 55-yard touchdown run with 6:44 remaining in the third quarter. Sanders, who took a number of direct snaps throughout the game, finished the night with more than 100 yards on the ground.

Summit’s offense couldn’t break any big plays all game.

After a poor rushing performance last week against Salida, the Tigers opened the game determined to pound the ball up the middle.

Summit ran the ball its first 13 plays of the game, before junior quarterback Jason Looby completed his first pass of the game early in the second quarter on a check-off route to Cody Holland.

That’s not to say it was a bad thing the Tigers kept it on the ground, because Daigle picked up yards on nearly every carry, finishing the opening half with 85 yards.

It was the penalties that stunted Summit’s march down the field.

The Tigers jumped offsides four times in the first two quarters and had two personal foul penalties.

“We would do two or three great things – I mean, we moved the ball – then we’d have penalty, penalty, penalty and be in a third-and-long situation,” Hollingsworth said.

The defense, though, couldn’t have asked for a better start. The Tigers forced fumbles on each of the first two Battle Mountain series – one was recovered by Daigle and the other by Holland – and senior Kyle Metzger picked off a pass in the second quarter.

In the second half, the defense kept it up, while the offense failed to get much going.

Daigle went out with an injury in the fourth quarter, and even though the Tigers had the ball three separate times in the fourth, they could only muster one first down.

Looby finished the night 6-13 passing for 81 yards, three of the incompletions coming on dropped passes.

Hollingsworth said the Tigers (0-2) have to figure out their offensive woes in a hurry and get ready for next week’s matchup with Eagle Valley.

“I expect them to come out fired up,” the coach said of his team. “We’re 0-2 and we’ll see what we’re made of, now. Next week, we’ll see what the character of this team is, more than anything, we’ll see their character.”

The Tigers play at Eagle Valley High School at 7 p.m.


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