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If there was such a thing as a moral victory, the Dodge City Community College Conquistadors football team got one Saturday.
The Conqs opened the 2009 season with a 27-13 loss to the No. 12-ranked Cardinals of Trinity Valley Saturday, an improvement from the 48-0 lopsided defeat Dodge suffered to those same Cardinals in last season's opener.
"I think we improved a ton," DCCC head coach Bob Majeski said. "The main goal of the game was to win, but the second one was to be better at the end of the game than we were at the beginning and I think we did that."
One thing Majeski and his Conqs were able to do Saturday that they failed to do all of last season was make a point-after-touchdown.
The Dodge defense forced Trinity Valley to punt in the first series of the game, but Cardinals head coach Brad Smiley elected to fake the punt and snap it to freshman running back Josh Johnson who carried it 37 yards to the DCCC 2-yard line.
Trinity Valley capitalized with a field goal with 9:21 remaining in the first quarter to take the early 3-0 lead.
Freshman quarterback Justin Heard and the Dodge offense stalled on the ensuing drive, but Conqs punter Quinter-native Caden Glick planted the ball at the Trinity Valley 2-yard line to force the Cardinals offense to start inside its own end zone.
Looking to make a play, Chad Winbush, Trinity Valley's sophomore preseason first-team All-American running back, fumbled and DCCC recovered the loose ball at the 9. Dodge sophomore running back Kareem Alexander then seized the opportunity and ran it in for the score. The Conqs grabbed a 6-3 advantage after Wichita-product Antonio Rodriguez's PAT attempt went sailing after deflecting off the cross-bar.
With the score now tied 6-6, the Cardinals blocked a Glick punt and with just over 2 minutes remaining in the first half, Trinity Valley's Jared Pickett scooped up the ball and scored to put the Cardinals up 13-6 at the break.
"That was a game-changer," Majeski said of the blocked punt. "But you know what? We came back out in the second half and responded though."
The Conqs struck first in the third quarter as former Haviland High quarterback Lane Kendall found second-year wide receiver Curtis Rice for a 37-yard touchdown pass. After the score, Rodriguez split the uprights to tie the game at 13 and give the Conqs their first made PAT in two years.
"In one week we've made 50 percent of what we made all last year," Majeski said with a laugh. "Sure we would have wanted to win the game, but we've come a long way in a short matter of time."
Twenty-three seconds later, the Cardinals countered as Winbush ran for a 27-yard touchdown to give Trinity Valley the 20-13 lead. The visitors from the Lone Star State never looked back.
In the final frame, the depth of the Cardinals and the youth of the Conqs began to show as Trinity Valley pulled away and went on to hand DCCC its first loss of the season 27-13 after Dodge won its final two games of 2008.
Sophomore all-purpose back Jacquese Seward led Dodge in rushing with 75 yards on 12 attempts, while Rice paced the DCCC receivers tallying 113 yards on four catches.
Freshman defensive lineman Dedric Speight led the Conqs with nine total tackles and a forced fumble.
Johnson and Winbush combined for 220 rushing yards for Trinity Valley, while Winbush recorded 117 of them on 11 carries and a score.
Saturday, Dodge will host the defending national champions and preseason No. 1-ranked Butler Grizzlies who lost their opener to Blinn College over the weekend, 24-17.
If there was such a thing as a moral victory, the Dodge City Community College Conquistadors football team got one Saturday.
The Conqs opened the 2009 season with a 27-13 loss to the No. 12-ranked Cardinals of Trinity Valley Saturday, an improvement from the 48-0 lopsided defeat Dodge suffered to those same Cardinals in last season's opener.
"I think we improved a ton," DCCC head coach Bob Majeski said. "The main goal of the game was to win, but the second one was to be better at the end of the game than we were at the beginning and I think we did that."
One thing Majeski and his Conqs were able to do Saturday that they failed to do all of last season was make a point-after-touchdown.
The Dodge defense forced Trinity Valley to punt in the first series of the game, but Cardinals head coach Brad Smiley elected to fake the punt and snap it to freshman running back Josh Johnson who carried it 37 yards to the DCCC 2-yard line.
Trinity Valley capitalized with a field goal with 9:21 remaining in the first quarter to take the early 3-0 lead.
Freshman quarterback Justin Heard and the Dodge offense stalled on the ensuing drive, but Conqs punter Quinter-native Caden Glick planted the ball at the Trinity Valley 2-yard line to force the Cardinals offense to start inside its own end zone.
Looking to make a play, Chad Winbush, Trinity Valley's sophomore preseason first-team All-American running back, fumbled and DCCC recovered the loose ball at the 9. Dodge sophomore running back Kareem Alexander then seized the opportunity and ran it in for the score. The Conqs grabbed a 6-3 advantage after Wichita-product Antonio Rodriguez's PAT attempt went sailing after deflecting off the cross-bar.
With the score now tied 6-6, the Cardinals blocked a Glick punt and with just over 2 minutes remaining in the first half, Trinity Valley's Jared Pickett scooped up the ball and scored to put the Cardinals up 13-6 at the break.
"That was a game-changer," Majeski said of the blocked punt. "But you know what? We came back out in the second half and responded though."
The Conqs struck first in the third quarter as former Haviland High quarterback Lane Kendall found second-year wide receiver Curtis Rice for a 37-yard touchdown pass. After the score, Rodriguez split the uprights to tie the game at 13 and give the Conqs their first made PAT in two years.
"In one week we've made 50 percent of what we made all last year," Majeski said with a laugh. "Sure we would have wanted to win the game, but we've come a long way in a short matter of time."
Twenty-three seconds later, the Cardinals countered as Winbush ran for a 27-yard touchdown to give Trinity Valley the 20-13 lead. The visitors from the Lone Star State never looked back.
In the final frame, the depth of the Cardinals and the youth of the Conqs began to show as Trinity Valley pulled away and went on to hand DCCC its first loss of the season 27-13 after Dodge won its final two games of 2008.
Sophomore all-purpose back Jacquese Seward led Dodge in rushing with 75 yards on 12 attempts, while Rice paced the DCCC receivers tallying 113 yards on four catches.
Freshman defensive lineman Dedric Speight led the Conqs with nine total tackles and a forced fumble.
Johnson and Winbush combined for 220 rushing yards for Trinity Valley, while Winbush recorded 117 of them on 11 carries and a score.
Saturday, Dodge will host the defending national champions and preseason No. 1-ranked Butler Grizzlies who lost their opener to Blinn College over the weekend, 24-17.
