Dixie Heights coach Tom Spritzky stared off into the distance while he answered questions after the game. The rain dripped off the helmet of quarterback Ryan Wilson as he reminisced about his team’s performance.
His Colonels teammates sprinted by, whooping and hollering, in an effort to get into the locker room and out of the downpour, but Wilson looked pained. His coach looked desolate.
Even with the Dixie Heights 21-12 victory against Holmes on Friday night, notching its second win in its past six attempts and knocking the Bulldogs off their undefeated perch, Spritzky and Wilson were less than enthusiastic after the game.
“We’re always happy to win,” said Spritzky, who looked anything but. “I guess we came into the game thinking we could do a better job of controlling the ball and moving the ball. I am happy that our kids continued to fight and kept them out of the end zone instead of letting them crawl back in it.”
Give credit to the Colonels red zone defense. Although Holmes (6-1) had first-and-goal on the 4-yard line on two different drives in the first half, Dixie Heights (3-4) limited the Bulldogs to a pair of field goals. Then, when the Colonels offense struggled mightily in the second half, the Dixie Heights defense played well enough to top the Bulldogs.
“It was hard to tell what kind of team Holmes was, because they played opponents we don’t know anything about,” Spritzky said. “They played teams from out of the area and some teams locally that we don’t play. We knew they’d be athletic, because they’re always athletic. But they were better defensively and they were better up front offensively than I anticipated.”
But make no mistake: the win was nice – especially on such a weird day.
The game originally was scheduled to be played at Holmes, but after rain pelted the area, turning the natural grass field at Mountjoy Stadium into a sloppy mess, the schools moved the contest to Dixie Heights and its Turf Field.
Many of the Colonels learned about the venue switch Friday afternoon in an e-mail sent by Spritzky, and many of the Bulldogs found about it when they arrived at school to get ready for the game.
It didn’t negatively affect Dixie Heights in the first half. Wilson was 11 of 13 for 172 yards and three touchdowns to give the Colonels a 21-6 lead heading into intermission. Holmes special teams unit struggled as well, muffing two punts and giving Dixie Heights good field position in both cases.
In years past, Holmes coach Stephen Lickert said, those errors would have devastated his squad and would have resulted in blowout losses. This time, though, the Bulldogs fought through their mistakes and kept themselves in the game.
They contained the Colonels running game for most of the night, Wilson completed only 1 of 7 passes in the second half, and Bulldogs quarterback Jesse Jensen hooked up with Dasean Peterson four times for 119 yards to keep their drives alive in the final two periods and give Holmes a chance.
But after Jensen scored on a 2-yard run to top off an 11-play, 72-yard drive midway through the third quarter – the Holmes quarterback, who was 14 of 29 for 231 yards and an interception, had two clutch third-down scrambles that continued the series – the Bulldogs couldn’t find the end zone for the final 18 minutes of the game.
“With the season we had last year, every week is a big test for us,” Lickert said. “We were unsure of how good we were, but we’re a good football team. We had a lot of chances to win. But give them a lot of credit because they found a way to win.”
Little solace to Wilson.
“I think we could have played better,” the senior quarterback said. “We played OK. We just didn’t give our best effort tonight. We played hard, but it didn’t translate.”DIXIE HEIGHTS 7-14-0-0–21
at HOLMES 3-3-6-0–12
DH–Leonard 31 pass from Wilson (Bronner kick)
H–Ghanbar 25 field goal
DH–Pike 34 pass from Wilson (Bronner kick)
H–Ghanbar FG 26
DH–Wolfe 22 pass from Wilson (Bronner kick)
H–Jensen 2 run (pass failed)
RECORDS: Dixie Heights 4-4, Holmes 6-1.
