Cheyenne shakes off first-game rust, beats Del Sol

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010 | 11:51 p.m.

There were no first-game errors on this night.

The Cheyenne High football team led from start to finish in a 24-14 victory against visiting Del Sol, erasing the bad taste in their mouths after a sluggish performance last week against Cimarron-Memorial.

Cheyenne (1-1) was the last team in the state to open its season, starting last week when several teams were already in their third game. The result was a mistake-filled 34-8 loss to Cimarron.

That was far from the case against Del Sol (2-2).

Junior Kenneth Counts had touchdowns runs of 15 and 4 yards, and quarterback Bakari Smith connected with Jalen Walker on a 29-yard scoring strike to seal the game in the fourth quarter.

“Everybody had a head start on us this year,” Cheyenne coach David Cochran said. “They all looked rusty coming out of the gate, too. That was the case with us.”

Beating a team of Del Sol’s caliber — the Dragons lost in the state finals last year and are a perennial Southeast Division power — is a big confidence builder for Cheyenne.

“We knew it would be a slugfest,” Cochran said. “We just got a couple of breaks and our kids played well enough to pull it out.”