It felt like the Dolores Bears were ready to break a big play and find the end zone at any moment against John Mall on Saturday.
Skieler Grooms, Austin Hackney and Justin Purkat found holes for nice runs to move the chains, and Tristan Medina and Logan Fuller made plays in space to rack up yards after catches as Dolores marched into John Mall territory on its first two drives.
But just as their offense started rolling, the visiting Panthers would make a play on defense or the Bears would commit a mistake or penalty to end – or at least hinder – drives.
John Mall came up with a big sack on third down to force a punt on the Bears’ first possession, and then on their second, senior Evan Gonzales jumped a Dolores screen pass for a 77-yard pick six to put the Panthers ahead 6-0.
“We had to execute better,” said Dolores head coach Chris Trusler. “A lot of guys not blocking properly, guys lined up in the wrong position, they just weren’t ready for today.”
The Panthers got an offensive touchdown on their next possession when Gonzales scrambled on a broken play and found Alejandro Morales in the end zone, and John Mall went to the break with a 13-0 lead.
The same struggles plagued Dolores in the second half.
Purkat broke off a 24-yard run, and then a run by Grooms set up the Bears in the red zone on their first possession of the third quarter. But the John Mall defense held, pushing Dolores into a fourth-and-15 situation and forcing a turnover on downs.
The Panthers put together a 55-yard scoring drive that stretched into the early stages of the fourth quarter to take a 19-0 advantage, but Dolores was still in it.
The Bears were within striking distance twice in the fourth quarter. But multiple penalties pushed their offense backwards on the first instance, leading to a turnover on downs, and a 12-yard rushing TD by Grooms was called back for holding on the second and the drive ended in a fumble as John Mall held on to win 19-0.
“We’d make that big play and get some momentum, and then ultimately, discipline was an issue today,” said Trusler. “And that’s something that we’re going to work on next week in practice is discipline.”
“This is a game we could have won,” he continued. “We prepared well for it. John Mall was definitely prepared for us. We just got outplayed today.”
Dolores is now 3-2 on the year and 0-1 in the Southern Peaks League, but they’ll look to rebound next Friday in an away game against the Ignacio Bobcats (2-3, 0-1 SPL).