Friday, Sept. 24, 2004 | 9:28 a.m.
For three and a half quarters, Eldorado performed like it did in the days when Darwin Rost coached there, dominating Palo Verde for all but two plays.
Those two plays -- both long touchdowns by Marc Evans -- kept the Panthers tied, though. And as Palo Verde marched off a 90-yard drive for the game-winning score Thursday night, the value of an experienced team with two consecutive trips to the 4A state playoffs became painfully evident to the talented but green Sundevils.
Third-year starting quarterback Jarrell Harrison punched in a 1-yard scoring run with 1:02 to play and the Palo Verde defense forced a turnover on the first play of the Sundevils' desperation drive to preserve a 20-14 win at Eldorado.
Now at Palo Verde for almost a decade, Rost guided the Sundevils to a state championship in 1991. His Panthers (4-0), hardened by playoff experience, never panicked in their first true challenge of the season.
"It definitely helps, with winning the region these past two years and being in games like this with Cheyennes and Cimarrons and those kind of guys," Rost said. "We've got Harrison and (Marc) Evans who have been in games like this before, and they were definitely guys we went to down the stretch."
Evans rushed for 165 yards on 17 carries, including a 75-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that accounted for the Panthers' only offensive score until Harrison's late touchdown. Nine of Evans' 17 carries came in the fourth quarter.
"It helps a lot to have that experience, especially on the varsity level," Evans said. "We know what to expect and what not to expect."
Harrison carried 14 times for 50 yards, gaining key first downs on runs of 13 and 14 yards to complement an important 20-yard completion to Mike Smith as the Panthers mounted their only long drive.
"We put it in this week and it was the waggle pass that moved us down the field," Rost said of Smith's reception. "We hit two passes over here and then (Harrison) took off and ran on the right side. That was a waggle pass, but he saw we had the corner and he took it. That was just Jarrell being an athlete."
It was the athleticism of Evans that kept Palo Verde in the game. In addition to his long touchdown run, Evans also returned the second-half kickoff 97 yards to erase Eldorado's lead.
The Sundevils (3-2) built that 7-6 lead on quarterback Brandon Godfrey's 27-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter. Eldorado, in its second year under head coach Frank DeSantis, executed an intelligent game plan designed to chew up the clock and keep Palo Verde's defense on the field. The Sundevils ran 68 plays to Palo Verde's 48, a number only made close by the Panthers' last drive.
"Our kids just looked gassed out here," Rost said.
Tailback Marcus Newson gained 90 yards on 21 carries and Godfrey put up 31 passes, completing 11 for 156 yards and a touchdown. Godfrey hit Edward Jackson with a 9-yard scoring pass on fourth down midway through the fourth quarter to tie the game at 14. Jackson finished with 73 yards on six catches.
But Godfrey also ended the Sundevils' desperation drive after Harrison's score before it really started, fumbling on the first play and allowing the Panthers' Drew McDaniel to recover and seal the game.
"Give credit to our defense because they were out there," Rost said. "We'd go three and out, and they'd go 80 yards to drive."
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