At first glance for those who weren't there CSU-P's 47-0 thrashing of Fort Lewis probably were left thinking what a great night for the offense finally. Not that they played poorly but this night belonged to the special teams. Former East Eagle standout Josh Sandoval found himself in the doghouse following a first half fumble on an otherwise great punt return. In fact on the next return he was a spectator as Jamaal Johnson got the return assignment. But the sophomore flanker came back strong on his next opportunity late in the third quarter. Taking in the ball around his own 20 (yours truly and joe e cervi not agreeing with the official mark) Sandoval split two would be tacklers right off the bat. Then another elusive move at the 30 and he was off and running toward midfield. Running through heavy traffic at that point he managed to slip another couple of would be tacklers. Thats when the dominoes started to fall as the downfield blocking was textbook and "Beetle" as he is affectionately known as raced in for the at this point official 77 yard punt return touchdown. Sandoval also hauled in six passes for 105 yards to earn Pueblo Bank & Trust player of the game honors on our 590KCSJ-AM broadcast. Another "special" moment was turned in by the punt block unit on the first play of the second quarter. This unit was pivotal in the upset win at West Texas A&M and once again came up big against Fort Lewis. Junior Anthony Marshall has been working hard just to try and earn playing time along side the deep and fast defensive front for the Thunderwolves. But instead of sulk he continues to come up big when called upon playing special teams. Marshall raced in, leaped over the punt protection in the backfield and blocked Skyhawk punter Frank Atherton's attempt. But the California transfer wasn't done. He pounced on the ball in the endzone to score the touchdown to put CSU-P up 17-0. Junior outside linebacker Jason Campbell also joined the block party by dispatching of a late first half field goal attempt to preserve the shutout. Its the second straight game in which a field goal attempt was blocked to help preserve whitewashings. And finally there is senior placekicker Kyle Major who has managed to put the boring back into field goals. The guy is automatic this year with exception to the missed 60 yard attempt in the first quarter at Adams State last week. Major converted on four more field goals to give him 12 makes on the year. He was also stayed perfect on PATs knocking five more home. Here is the value I place on Major. Imagine Adam's State with him on their squad. Yesterday they would have pulled out the win at Chadron State and last week against CSU-P they would have broke on top early 3-0. Who knows what scoring first in that game would have meant for the Grizzlies.
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--------DEFENSE, DEFENSE!-------Besides pitching another shutout the defense scored again with Stephan Dickens picking off a pass at his own 43 yard line and racing 57 yards down the sideline to score. Many thought, including me, that this unit might be the achilles heal of the team but so far the cornerbacks are proving to be a strength. Another player who came up large last night was inside linebacker Damon Schiele put on a hitting clinic with several crushing tackles in the middle of the field.
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--------DOGHOUSE--------Junior quarterback Ross Dausin was having a decent night distributing the ball to several different receivers throughout the first half. But all that good work seemed to come undone late in the first half. While scrambling away from the pass rush he found himself wrapped up by a Skyhawk defender. But instead eating the ball Dausin tried a desperation heave which sailed behind him. It was correctly ruled a backwards pass or lateral and Fort Lewis fell on the live ball at the 19. Special teams bailed out the San Antonio TX native by blocking a field goal attempt. Junior signal caller Troy Graham took over for the final snap of the first half and then played well into the fourth quarter with Dausin on the bench. Make know mistake about it Dausin will be the starter next week at Chadron State. He cant afford to make mistakes like that the rest of the way and expect the Thunderwolves to be successful against the meat of the schedule coming up. I expect him to bounce back nicely.
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-------NO MOVEMENT------Last week was upset Saturday in Division II. Call this past weekend the return to normalcy. The coaches poll (CSU-P 14th) saw nobody ranked above the Thunderwolves lose. In fact only four teams in the top 25 lost yesterday and one of those was number 24 Bemidji State lost 26-23 to number 11 Minnesota Duluth. In a bit of a shocker number 16 Texas A&M -Kingsville lost its second straight this time to Midwestern State 44-38.
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-------CENTRAL COLLAPSE-----Friday night we at CNM Sports witnessed one of the most astonishing turnarounds ever in a high school football contest. Cental raced out to a 28-7 lead over number one ranked Vista Ridge. But that was all she wrote as the Wolves scored late in the first half to cut it to 28-14 at halftime. They then scored 36 more unanswered to stay undefeated and keep rights to their number on ranking. Despite the crushing second half defeat enough good things were displayed by the Wildcats to give hope of a great battle to retake the Victory Bell this week against Centennial who won big 34-0 over Coronado.
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-------SPEAKING OF--------We at CNM Sports will provide live coverage of the Bell Game Friday night with the pregame show starting at 630pm on Comcast 19. Myself along with Joe Cervi and Kevin Millis will bring you the call of the game sure to be sellout with a crowd of around 13000 expected. With that said it is still disturbing to me so see so many empty seats on the edges of the grand old stadium. In years past I have been told this is because the district must factor in all the "free passes" floating around town for teachers, coaches and administration. If this is still the case it is high time something is done about it. My solution is to make this "perk" cost as much as the general public pays. Now I would still provide them with the opportunity to get in on the game. But they would have to pay the admission plus do so a week in advance so that the district can make all potential seats be in play for the big game. This event deserves that slackers shouldnt be expected to be let in free of charge on gameday.
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-------PROGRAM REMINDER------The John Wristen Show presented by Miller Lite will be on as usual this week from Buffalo Wildwings in the Northgate shopping center. We take to the air at 706pm and sign off at 800pm. The show can be heard on the restaurants sound system so make it a point to come on out and join us for dinner and a nice cold beverage. As always the show can be heard on 590KCSJ-AM and on the internet at www.590kcsj.com .
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-------IHeartRadio--------This weekend we will be on the road in Chadron Nebraska for the "next" big game on the Thunderwolves schedule. Kickoff is scheduled for 130pm MST with the pregame show at 100pm on KCSJ. Now if you are not by your computer or listening to the radio you still have a way of hearing the game. Download the IHeartRadio app for your smart phone so you dont miss a minute of the action. It's free and can be found by going to www.iheartradio.com
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