It was déjà vu all over again for the Dubois Rams in their conference home opener Saturday against the visiting Hanna Elk Mountain Medicine Bow Miners. Senior quarterback Zander Hawkins sold a pair of play action fakes, then rolled right and hit sophomore wide receiver Seth Dvergsdal for a 37-yard touchdown pass to open the game and a 21-yard connection to seal it in a 52-33 win over the Miners.
Hanna is a solid team this season, big, fast and experienced. They stacked their defense with a goal line look for most of the game, something you don’t see often in 6-man football.
Dubois exploited it with toss sweeps to Dylan Champley and pin point passes from Hawkins to four different receivers.
“We call it a skinny flag, you can’t run a true flag on a 6-man field,” Dubois head coach Dan O’Brien said of the game’s first and last scores “He’s definitely looking over the outside shoulder.”
Seth Dvergsdal pulled in a touchdown pass – h/t Randy Tucker
O’Brien rolled the dice on the first kick off the game, a trend that both teams followed for the next 40 minutes. The Rams kicked off and Wagner rolled a perfect onside kick setting up the first score.
The Rams scored on their first play from scrimmage to take an 8-0 lead on Wagner’s conversion kick.
In a twist you won’t find in 11-man football, neither team punted in the game, with all but one kick of the onside version.
The Miners caught the ensuing onside kick, picked up a first down then tried to throw deep. Dubois knocked a pass high into the air near the goal line and Hawkins picked it off via the tip drill. Hawkins intercepted the ball at the two-yard line, then raced 75 yards to the three on the other end of the field.
Dylan Chamley took a pitch from Hawkins two plays later scoring on the one-yard play for a 14-0 Dubois lead.
The Rams added another first period score on a one-yard Wagner plunge as time expired for a 20-0 start.
Hanna put together a solid drive and scored on a 10-yard run by Sievyn Pelt to cut the margin to 20-6.
Hanna’s score sparked the Ram’s air attack with Hawkins connecting on three consecutive drives on scoring strikes to Dvergsdal, Wagner and Chamley of 30, four and five yards to build in impressive 38-6 lead with just 33 seconds remaining in the half.
Dubois kicked it deep just once, and Hanna senior Pelt made them pay, taking the ball 72 yards to the house, then adding a conversion kick to end the half with the Rams leading 38-15.
“I’m proud of the kids, again young kids learning how to win games like that is huge,” O’Brien said. “We didn’t have any turnovers, and we didn’t miss covering one onside kick.”
Chamley broke around right end to open the third period, outran the Miner defense, cut back at the 15 and scampered in on a 30-yard toss sweep that gave the Rams what appeared to be an insurmountable lead at 45-15.
In 6-man, football’s version of the fast break, scoring can come in bunches. Hanna scored three unanswered touchdowns on runs of six yards and a pair of one yard runs to close the gap to 45-33 with 7:24 remaining in the game.
Dubois picked up an insurance touchdown on the play action pass from Hawkins to Dvergsdal to seal the win.
Defensively the Rams bent a little but didn’t break until a lapse in the third period.
Dvergsdal played inspired football, flying around the field and tackling the much larger Hanna Elk Mountain players with solo hits.
“Chamley is going to be a good one,” O’Brien said. “If we didn’t have all those holding calls in the fourth quarter he might have had 250 yards.”
O’Brien opened up the playbook in this one, letting the boys have a little fun, with several double-reverse plays and a couple of throwbacks to Hawkins after he took the snap.
The Rams have a tough one this week, traveling to Baggs to play the unbeaten, three-time defending state champion Little Snake River Rattlers.
A Perfect Afternoon in the High Country – h/t Randy Tucker
“Hanna is a pretty good team, they have some big kids,” O’Brien said. “The kids beat a good team today.”
DUBOIS 20 18 7 7 – 52
HANNA ELK MOUNTAIN 0 15 12 6 – 33
FIRST QUARTER
DUB – Seth Dvergsdal 37-pass from Zander Hawkins (Dylan Wagner kick) 9:51
DUB – Dylan Chamley 1-run (kick failed) 7:23
DUB – Wagner 1-run (kick failed) :00
SECOND QUARTER
HEM – Sievyn Pelt 10-run (Lance Pelt from Aiden Scott) 8:14A
DUB – Dvergsdal 30-pass from Hawkins (kick failed) 6:43
DUB – Wagner 4-pass from Hawkins (kick failed) 3:13
DUB – Chamley 5-pass from Hawkins (kick failed) :33
HEM – Pelt 72-kick off return (Scott kick) :22
THIRD QUARTER
DUB – Chamley 30-run (Chamley run) 8:51
HEM – Samuel Ramirez 6-run (kick failed) 5:49
HEM – Naythen Atencio 1-run (kick failed) :41
FOURTH QUARTER
HEM – Ramirez 1-run (kick failed) 7:24
DUB – Dvergsdal 21-pass from Hawkins (Chamley run) 3:40