Chaparral grinds out first victory

Ray Brewer

Friday, Sept. 10, 1999 | 10:13 a.m.

If the Chaparral football team winds up having a successful season, the Cowboys will be able to look back at their first two games of the year as the turning point.

Despite losing both contests -- to a team from Utah to open the season and northern Nevada power Wooster in week No. 2 -- the Cowboys gained valuable experience against the quality competition.

This experience paid off Thursday as Chaparral stormed past Basic 21-0 in the Sunrise Division opener for both schools at Basic High School.

Mario Hagan rushed for 218 yards on 23 carries with two touchdown runs to lead a Chaparral ground attack that amassed 250 yards in the win.

"Wooster played incredible defense up there," Chaparral coach Ben Johnson said. "We had to pick and choose our plays and we had no long drives. We had to grind everything out."

This mentality was evident on Thursday with the Cowboys throwing just four passes.

Hagan scored his first touchdown of the game on the first play of the second quarter as he rushed in from 38 yards out on a sweep play.

Hagan and the Cowboys weren't finished.

On Chaparral's next possession and Hagan's next run, the senior tailback stormed past the Basic line en route to a 54-yard touchdown run, giving the Cowboys a 14-0 advantage with 9:37 left in the second quarter.

"Mario is fast," Johnson said. "Once he gets to the outside, it is tough to contain him."

After the two teams exchanged possessions in the third quarter, Chaparral's ground arsenal went back to work.

This time, Brian Byington got into the act as he broke through for a 54-yard touchdown run with 10:47 left in the game.

"We are trying to put more emphasis on running the ball this year," Johnson said.

"Plus with this wind it was hard to throw the ball."

Byington finished with 67 yards rushing on five carries for Chaparral and quarterback Dallas Dobbs added 64 yards on 16 carries.

As for Basic, the Wolves had two serious chances to put some points on the board.

After Hagan's first touchdown, Basic went on an eight-play drive which ended with quarterback Mark Rose being intercepted by Dobbs in the back of the end zone. Then, on Basic's first drive of the second half, the Wolves were denied on fourth down at Chaparral's 5-yard line.

Max Ramos led the Wolves with 51 yards rushing on 16 carries while Rose was 5-of-19 for 60 yards.