Offense meets defense in an ‘unlucky’ rematch

Adam Candee

Thursday, Nov. 7, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

Triskaidekaphobia might be running rampant at Durango and Palo Verde this week.

As the teams prepare to square off Friday night in the Sunset Region quarterfinals for the second straight year, there is good reason for fear of the number 13 -- both squads have lost three games this year, and their total combined margin of defeat is just 13 points.

"It can be frustrating in ways," Palo Verde senior linebacker Jordan Wilmore said. "You just have to go on and keep playing."

The facts further bear out a hard-luck story -- four of the six losses came to teams currently ranked in the Sun state poll. Now comes the time for the Panthers (NW-2, 6-3) and the Blazers (SW-3, 6-3) to put the disquieting din of what might have been in the past and prove they can hang with the squads that narrowly knocked them to lower seeds.

"We're glad to be in the playoffs and we're treating this like a new season," Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost said.

It will be a dominating Panthers defense -- one that allowed just 14 points in four division games -- that takes the field against a powerful Durango offense that only reached full strength in the season's final week. That is when Blazers standout tailback Ahmad Atkins, who suffered an unusual stress fracture in his right foot in the preseason, made his first appearance of the year.

"The guys around (Ahmad), they rallied around him," Durango coach John Mausbach said. "I could see them motivated to practice and win."

With more than 100 rushing yards against Sierra Vista, Atkins plugged the final piece back into the Durango offense that held great promise at the dawn of the season, but lost Atkins before the year and Allen McIntyre for a stretch at midseason. Both players are back running behind a physical offensive line and the Durango offense has balance with Isaiah Wigham providing a deep threat.

If, before the season, Rost were offered a defense that would allow a total of two touchdowns in division play, the coach surely would have taken the proposition.

"Our defense definitely is legit," Rost said.

After going 2-2 in the tough Northwest to earn the third seed, Rost knows his unorthodox rushing attack will need to produce more points in the postseason for the Panthers to survive.

With no wideouts and a healthy dose of dives and misdirection, Palo Verde runs with tailbacks Gerard Lawson, Philip Faraglia and Tyree Lawson, as well as quarterback Jarrell Harrison, featuring a number of looks that defenses must account for.

Even though the Blazers shut out the Panthers 7-0 in last year's opening round, Mausbach thinks both offenses will play a bigger part this time.

"We're not going to shut them out," Mausbach said. "I think it'll take four scores to win it."

The first-round loss of a year ago still tastes sour to the Panthers.

"I remember defense, defense, defense," Wilmore said. "It was one of the best defensive games I've ever played in or seen."