Western’s turnaround year has Warriors thinking title

Adam Candee

Thursday, Oct. 16, 2003 | 10:05 a.m.

It all happened in a flash, from the loose ball, to the recovery and then the touchdown pass.

Winning a seemingly lost game turned around the season for Western and put the Warriors in position to battle Bishop Gorman for the Southwest Division title Friday night at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"That's how crazy a football season is," Western coach Charles Anthony said. " We could easily have been sitting in our locker room saying what's going on with our season."

The Warriors (4-3, 3-0 Southwest) opened their division slate at Sierra Vista and found themselves quickly down 14-0. A desperate rally later, Western trailed by a point and Sierra Vista held the ball with under a minute to play. Defeat appeared inevitable.

"With two minutes left, we're like, oh god, oh god," Western senior linebacker Ryan Voight said.

Suddenly, a Sierra Vista snap went wrong, the ball popped loose, and Western recovered deep in Lions' territory. Western converted the gift when Julian Sample hit Demario Harris on a slant for the winning touchdown, and the Warriors moved to 2-3 instead of 1-4.

"That was our break. That was the turning point for our season," Voight said.

Wins against Durango and Clark followed and Western now takes on the equally resurgent Gaels (5-2, 3-0 Southwest) for the division crown. Gorman owns a five-game winning streak and Gaels coach David White likes the way his team is responding to challenges.

"They really understand what it means to take it one game at a time," White said.

This is the one game that Anthony did not know if Western would find. Injuries to key players like senior linebacker Vidal White contributed to a slow start and even though the Warriors challenged Cheyenne early on, they appeared to be just good enough to come close.

Using a combination of team speed and quickness, the Warriors reversed that trend and emerged as one of the Southwest's top teams.

"We've just been trying to work for the spot where we're actually competing for a conference championship," Anthony said.

A lot of Anthony's players are new to the chase. Western carries 10 sophomores and two freshmen on the varsity roster. While inexperience can sometimes be daunting in pressure situations like this week's showdown, Anthony feels confident that his team's youth is an advantage.

"They're young, but these young kids have a lot of confidence," Anthony said. "They don't know the ramifications of (this game)."

The same blissful ignorance does not apply to Western's senior class, which understands that a rare division title in football would carry great meaning.

"This is it," Voight said. "We don't like Gorman and Gorman doesn't like us."

Like or not, Gorman does hold a good deal of respect for the Warriors. White understands that with winless Clark on tap for the Gaels next week, this is Gorman's championship game.

"We know it's pretty much for first place," White said.

He expects a challenge from an athletic Western squad.

"They fly around and they fight and scrap," White said.

Voight said the keys to beating Gorman are to limit Gaels' running back DeMarco Murray to less than 100 yards and to hold quarterback Steve Harris to less than 50 percent completions.