Cowboys fall behind, then can’t catch Warriors

Ray Brewer

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1998 | 10:32 a.m.

It was only a high school football playoff game but it resembled a heavyweight boxing title fight.

Western and Chaparral exchanged blow after blow, with the Warriors striking first and last in coming away with a 26-20 victory over the Cowboys in Monday's first round southern zone playoff action at Chaparral.

"They never gave up and they busted their butts again," Western coach Rich Stevens said. "We've been stressing to the guys that they must come to practice and work hard on offense."

The game was a classic battle of two high-powered offenses, mixed in with flashes of defensive brilliance from Western.

The Warriors, seeded No. 3 in the Sunset Division, came out strong while scoring 14 points in 18 seconds to take charge in the first quarter.

But the Cowboys were able to battle back off the ropes and nearly erase a 20-point deficit.

It was in the fourth quarter -- final round -- where Western sealed the win.

With just under a minute left in the game, Chaparral was driving deep inside Western territory at the Warrior 19-yard line.

But Chaparral quarterback Tyson Dobbs threw his second costly interception of the game. He was picked off by Western's Philipe Soucy in the back of the end zone to kill the Cowboys' final scoring chance.

"There are lots of tears in that locker room," Chaparral coach Ben Johnson said.

"We came out hard in the second half and battled to the end. That's what we are going to reflect on."

Western dominated the first half in taking a 20-0 lead before Chaparral came alive to make the second half interesting.

With 4:22 left in the third quarter, Dobbs darted in from two yards out to put Chaparral on the board. The extra point was blocked and the Cowboys trailed 20-6.

Then with 6:33 left in the game, Chaparral showed it wasn't going to lie down for the count.

On 4th-and-goal from the 4-yard line, Dobbs turned nothing into a big something.

He ran the option to the right and appeared to be tackled to force a turnover. But somehow he managed to flip the ball to a breaking Verwon Washington for a touchdown to cut the Chaparral deficit to 20-13.

But on its next possession, Western was able to regain the momentum.

After rushing the ball on every play of the game, Western stunned the Cowboys wih a long pass.

Western quarterback Joey Kloeckner hooked up with Doug Croffet on a picture-perfect 40-yard touchdown reception to put Western ahead 26-13 with just over three minutes to play.

Chaparral answered Western's big pass play with a long bomb of its own. Dobbs found Richard Seiglar for a 32-yard touchdown pass, cutting Chaparral's deficit to 26-20 with 1:58 left.

After Chaparral's Willie Felkins recovered an onside kick, Chaparral went on its final drive, which ended in the interception.

"We can't start the game down 20 points," Johnson said.

The Warriors' Rossi Poole, who rushed for 146 yards on 17 carries, sparked Western's first-half scoring flurry with a 77-yard TD run.