Bonanza rallies in the fourth quarter to beat Silverado

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, Aug. 26, 2011 | 10:01 p.m.

A massive upset helped usher in the first week of high school football Friday night.

Bonanza, which went 5-5 last season and lost its top two standouts, stunned visiting Silverado, one of the more highly touted teams coming into the season, 30-29.

“I’m proud of the kids for stepping up,” Bonanza coach Shawn Dupris said. “We believed in ourselves. We knew we could win. That was all that mattered.”

The Bengals erased a nine-point deficit in the final five minutes against the Skyhawks and exorcised past demons in the process. Junior kicker Austin Rowe nailed a 35-yard field goal to cut the score to 29-23 late in the fourth quarter.

Whether Bonanza received another chance to score came down to a defense that was much maligned last season and gave up more than 40 points per game. The unit held strong against Silverado and forced a turnover-on-downs.

Junior quarterback Brett Doyle made the most of the extra opportunity by finding sophomore running back Jayveon Taylor with a long pass for the winning score before Roe booted the extra point through.

“It was a little rollout and he hit him in stride,” Dupris said. “It was back-and-forth the whole game, but we just stepped up.”

Taylor scored three touchdowns, two receiving and one rushing, on the night. Doyle “showed great poise in the pocket,” according to Dupris, and was behind each of Taylor’s touchdown catches.

Jordan Ozosky added a touchdown and Rico Soto gained tough yards on the ground all night.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.