No. 1 Pine Creek football starts fast, rolls against Pueblo West
COLORADO SPRINGS — After forcing a three-and-out on the very first Pueblo West drive, it only took the Pine Creek Eagles three plays and 56 seconds to take a 7-0 lead. That was about how the rest of the day would go for each team.
The Eagles held the momentum all afternoon en route to a 47-7 win at District-20 Stadium.
It was another game in which the Eagles (4-0 overall) showed they are indeed the favorites to bring home the Class 4A football title and still No. 1 in the CHSAANow.com 4A football rankings. But ahead of a highly-anticipated matchup with the Vista Ridge Wolves, Eagles coach Todd Miller knew his team was far from perfect on Saturday.
“If you don’t clean up (your mistakes), you don’t win,” Miller said. “Every time you get an opportunity to make a play you gotta seize that moment. (Dropped balls and penalties) are things we need to work on and be better about.”
The one thing that Miller didn’t have to worry about on Saturday was his offense’s ability to move the ball. On the first drive for the Eagles, Brock Domann connected with Damario Rogan-Portillos for a 67-yard touchdown pass.
Two Pine Creek drives later, Brock found his older brother, and Nebraska commit, JoJo for a 22-yard touchdown pass to give Pine Creek a quick 14-0 lead.
“We were just reading the defense and taking whatever they gave us,” JoJo said. “We both saw the same thing and we executed and it turned into a touchdown.”
The Cyclones (2-2) had difficulty moving the ball for most of the first half. When they finally got inside the red zone, ball security became an issue and linebacker Kacin Nowlin was able to take a fumble recovery 81 yards for a touchdown. Before the end of the second quarter Brock was able to break for a 46-yard touchdown run to give the Eagles a 28-0 lead at halftime.
“We had to control the ball,” Cyclones coach Monte Pinkerton said. “(We had to have) ball security and control the clock and those things didn’t happen.”
The Cyclones got their first break at the start of the second quarter as the Eagles fumbled the kick-off. Pueblo West was able to get inside the five-yard line and get the ball in the hands of running back Shane Larson who ran from three yards out to give the Cyclones their first – and only – points of the game.
But the second half, like most of the game belonged to the Eagles. Running back DeAndre Toliver ran for two touchdowns and JoJo Domann added a 51-yard touchdown run of his own to bring the final to 47-7.
“That’s why I play football, it’s so fun,” Brock Domann said. “I love it because (JoJo and I) get to share the experience together and he’s my security blanket.”
The Eagles now turn their attention to next week’s home game against Vista Ridge. The Wolves came away with a 40-28 win over Palmer Ridge Friday night in a game that turned into a quarterback shootout. Should the same situation arise, Brock Domann is confident the Eagles can keep pace with Elway Tubbs and Vista Ridge.
“We’re ready,” Brock said. “I think the last two weeks, we’ve shown that we can pass. I think we’re ready. If they put up some points, we’ll be putting those points up too.”
