The Dolores Bears are hoping to learn from their mistakes.
In last week’s 42-14 loss to Center, the Bears fumbled inside their own 20-yard line twice, leading to Vikings scores on each occasion. They also turned the ball over on downs in the red zone twice, killing scoring opportunities.
Head coach Chris Trusler spoke of his team’s miscues, saying that there wasn’t anything egregious, just small mistakes that ended up costing them.
“We’ve got a really young team so we’re pretty limited on experience,” he said. “Offensively, what hurt us was each play there’s one guy not maintaining a block or one guy that’s missing a block. But each time, there’s one person that’s not doing what they’ve got to do for our play to be successful. And that’s what hurt us.”
Center led 35-0 at the break, but Dolores played better in the second half.
Quarterback Justin Purkat connected with sophomore Bryce Baumgarten multiple times for nice catch-and-run gains. And later, senior Tristan Medina got the Bears on the board with a 42-yard rushing score off a reverse – a play that led to positive yards each time Dolores ran it.
Purkat pulled down an interception in the fourth quarter and followed it with a 60-yard completion to Medina to set up the Bears at the Center 1-yard line. Purkat would then scamper into the end zone for a 1-yard TD to finish off the scoring for the evening.
Trusler said that the team watched filmed this week in order to learn from its mistakes in preparation for its game this week – pointing out errors from last week’s contest and instructing players how to correct them.
“We were just teaching the kids how important every position is on the field,” he said.
Now 3-4 on the season and 0-3 in the Southern Peaks League, Dolores heads to La Jara on Friday to take on the Centauri Falcons (4-3, 2-1 SPL).
“They’re always a tough team,” Trusler said. “They’re very well coached, and our guys are going to have to be ready to play at the first whistle of the game and not just in the second half. That’s the only way we’re going to be competitive.”