PREP FOOTBALL:

Boulder City football looks to rebounds

Sam Morris

Boulder City High School’s Devin Combs looks for some running room during the first half of a game against Basic High School on Friday in Boulder City. Basic won the game 26-0 to retain the rivalry’s milk jug.

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009 | 12:31 p.m.

While the Boulder City High football team was disappointed in how it opened the season on Aug. 28, the Eagles understand it was just one game.

They had less than 100 yards of offense in being blanked by Basic 26-0 in the annual Jug Game, but coach Alex Kazel still found plenty of positives in the performance.

“We probably could have used another week of practice and it showed early,” Kazel said. “But give the kids credit, they battled. They are a good group of kids and they work hard.”

Boulder City hopes to continue making improvements on Sept. 4 when it hosts Mojave High of Bullhead City, Ariz. It beat Bullhead by two touchdowns last year.

The Eagles returned five who started on the offensive line last year, but several of those athletes missed the Basic game with injuries.

The replacements had limited practice on the line and that unfamiliarity led to mistakes.

“The kids did their best for being thrown into the position,” Kazel said. “It was tough on the kids being put in that position. If you are thinking instead of moving you can’t do much.”

With exception of a few missed assignments that led to easy Basic touchdowns, Kazel was happy with the way his defense played. That defense will be tested again this week against Mojave’s potent rushing attack — Mojave rushed for more than 400 yards last week against River Valley, Ariz.

Steven Kaposta led the defensive effort against Basic with 13 tackles and one sack, and Bleu Huxford had two sacks.

Boulder City only trailed 6-0 at halftime and had chances to mount a comeback. But its offense continued to stall.

“The kids did the best they could last week,” Kazel said. “It was a learning experience and we will be better for it.”

Basic’s defense spent most of the night in Boulder City’s backfield, limiting the Eagles to 58 yards of offense. Senior tailback Devin Combs led the way with 67 rushing yards on 16 carries.

“The good news is that we are going to get better,” Kazel said.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or ray.brewer@lasvegassun.com.

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