Halasz propels Gators over Skyhawks

By Andy Samuelson (contact)

Saturday, Oct. 25, 2008 | 1:45 a.m.

Green Valley's Dallas Halasz sure could get used to this scoring stuff.

Last week, the senior wide receiver secured his first score of the season -- a last-second touchdown catch that set up a game-winning two-point conversion in Green Valley's 28-27 victory over Del Sol.

Halasz did it again on Friday, this time on the defensive side when he tallied two touchdowns from his defensive back position. He also blocked a crucial extra point in the Gators' 31-13 victory over Silverado.

"Yeah, I guess I'm Mr. Clutch," Halasz said with a laugh. "Just in the right place at the right time."

Halasz certainly was on track with his first score: He picked off a pitch that bounced off a Silverado running back's shoulder pads and returned it 67 yards to erase Green Valley's early deficit.

"We were talking just before that about how we needed a spark since we were playing kind of flat," said Gators running back Quincy Bagsby, who accounted for two rushing scores of his own as Green Valley improved to 7-2 on the year, and 5-0 in the Southeast League. "Man, Dallas is so clutch. He's always coming through for us on defense."

Halasz' second play was even bigger than his first. Instead of putting points on the scoreboard for his squad, he kept the Skyhawks from tying the contest in the second half when he blocked Jacob Dlouhy's game-tying extra point.

The play was especially crucial considering how fast the Skyhawks (4-4 overall, 1-4) got back into the game after trailing 14-7 at halftime. Trenton Tipton, who caught a 42-yard scoring strike in the first half, snagged a 49-yard bomb this time to put Silverado in position to tie things up.

Instead Halasz soared in to deflect the low kick, causing Silverado coach Andy Ostolaza, whose team has lost four of its last five games, to shake his head in frustration.

"I don't know if it's our youth ... I don't know what it is ... but man, we faded badly in the second half," said Ostolaza, whose team was eliminated from the Class 4A playoffs after starting the season with three straight wins.

By the time Halasz added his finishing touch -- a 74-yard interception return in the final minutes -- Green Valley was already starting to celebrate its sixth straight win and was thinking ahead to next week's showdown with Basic.

"This is what you practice all off-season for, a chance to compete for a division title," said Green Valley coach Matt Gerber, whose last league title came in the old Sunrise Division in the 1990s.

"We got a chance to get that title, something this school hasn't had in a while," he said. "We're very excited about that opportunity."

Andy Samuelson is a sports writer/editor for the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at andy.samuelson@lasvegassun.com or 702-948-7837.