Thoreau comes from behind to upend Zuni

WINDOW ROCK

Starting the season at 1-0 has some significant value for the Thoreau football program.

The Hawks came from behind to escape with a 38-36 win over Zuni on Saturday night. Thoreau got the go-ahead score on a late touchdown by senior running back Dillon Butler with just over two minutes.

“I think that’s real significant,” second-year Thoreau coach David Foley said of winning their season opener. “We had a lot of new kids come out and I think it’s real good for building their confidence.

“In some ways I like that it was a close game because I think that’s going to give our kids a lot of experience going forward.”

Foley felt that his team was in control for much of the contest but they had a few turnovers that Zuni took advantage of.

“For us to comeback the way we did shows that resiliency that we have,” he said. “As a coaching staff that is what we’re most proud of: nobody quit on this team and it’s good because when we do our evaluations of the game it doesn’t leave a bitter taste in our mouths with a loss.”

And while they eked out the win, Foley gave props to the Zuni squad that is made up of mostly sophomores and freshmen.

“I was impressed with Zuni,” he said. “They had a really good solid offensive scheme and they had a few explosive plays. They have some talent there and they gave a good challenge. I’m expecting good things from them throughout the year as well.”

Foley said Butler scored the go-ahead touchdown with just over two minutes and admittedly he wanted them to eat more of the clock before they got into the end zone.

“I was hoping to burn a little more time, but we had a couple of big runs on that last drive,” he said. “We had to give the ball back to Zuni and they got down to our 26-yard line. They ran out of time fortunately for us.”

For the game, the Hawks racked up 377 yards on the ground with Butler and Thoreau quarterback Garoutte combining for 313 of those yards.

Butler went for 165 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns while Garoutte amassed 148 yards on 15 carries and three scores.

The Thoreau coach credited the guys in the trenches for creating opportunities for his two players to run free.

“Our line was great,” Foley said. “We returned a lot of players on the line. We only graduated one starting lineman and not all the guys that started this year started last year but they did get some reps.”

Senior Owen Delgarito, Foley says, is the chief anchor on the line. In addition to his right tackle, the Thoreau coach said junior Tyes Tahe did an outstanding job on the line.

“He’s a kid with some good strength and good athleticism so we moved into guard to give us a little bit more depth on the line,” Foley said. “I know coach (Lawrence) Garcia was really happy with how he performed.”

With the line doing a marvelous job, Foley said his two workhorses kept the Zuni defense honest for the entire night.

“Houston and Dillion are both competitive guys and they’re really hard runners,” he said. They got a lot of tough yards in the game.”

In addition to those players, Foley was real happy with the play of junior Cassius Burnside

“He’s our starting tight end but our starting fullback got dinged up in practice and he was not healthy enough to play and so he got some reps there in practice,” he said of Burnside, who carried the ball for 61 yards on five carries. “He jumped in and he ran the ball very well.”

The Hawks will play Hot Springs on Friday with the kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m.

“We’re going to focus on making sure we get a few more people involved with the offense this week,” Foley said. “Those player also play on the defensive side of the ball so we’re going to try to get a little more depth developed this week.”

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