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White City defenders tackle Solomon High School¿s Daniel Durant Friday night in Solomon during Wheat State football action. Durant led Solomon to a 57-8 win over the Huskies with 18 yards rushing, two offensive touchdowns in the contest and one 15-yard interception return for another touchdown. (Photo by Christian D Orr / September 8, 2012) |
The Solomon High School football team still has not been required to play a full football game in 2012 but Gorilla head coach Tim Cross remains confident that if need be, his squad can play 48 full minutes.
Solomon opened the season last Friday night with a 60-14 victory over Hope and Friday night the Gorillas made it 2-for-2 on 45-point Wheat State victories, both games were called in the third quarters.
"I know we could," Cross said of playing a full four-quarter game. "We have enough kids that are going in and out that I know we could play a full game. We have just been really playing well defensively. Offensively, we take what we can get but defensively we have been playing really well. It has just been a lot of fun to have the number of kids that we have and to keep a lot of fresh legs on the field."
In both games Solomon has been statistically led by quarterback Colton Shirack, who had 162 yards of total offense against Hope in the opener and 105 yards of total offense against White City, but Cross isn’t so sure about the thought that Shirack has been the main star.
Instead, Cross believes it is his defense, mainly his defensive backs.
"Defensively, I think our defensive backs played really well tonight defending the pass and staying with their man," Cross said. "Our line did their job then along with putting pressure on their quarterback."
Friday night, Solomon limited the Huskies to just 72 yards of total offense, all 72 through the air, but through the air White City managed to complete just six of 18 passes and Solomon intercepted three of those passes, including one by Daniel Durant, who returned it 15 yards for a touchdown.
Durant’s touchdown gave Solomon a 44-0 lead with 1:44 remaining in the first quarter.
"I would say the number of kids that we are able to get out there," Cross said of the reason behind Solomon’s early success. "We only have three guys going both ways and that really helps out a lot, we are able to wear other teams down fairly early and we are able to go both offensively and defensively."
Having the 44-point lead led Cross to put in his junior varsity offense while keeping his first-team defensive in the game.
"We got pretty much all of our team into the game," Cross said. "The first half we had JV in the game on offense, we kept our first string defense for the most part in the game to keep the score separated. But we had our JV offense in the game for a good four or five series."
The Huskies, facing just one point from the game going to a running clock in the second quarter, found the end zone with an eight-play, 57-yard drive that sandwiched the end of the first quarter with the beginning of the second quarter. White City got its only points of the game via a 15-yard touchdown pass from Sam Morgan to Jace Beavers with 11:46 still remaining before intermission.
The Gorillas answered that touchdown with a 38-yard touchdown run by Josh Burdine with 7:04 remaining before intermission and then tacked on a PAT kick by Blayne Neilson to make it a 51-8 contest.
The game made it to intermission and White City got the ball to start the second half but managed only one first down and threw an interception in the second half.
The Gorillas, meanwhile, finished the game on their third possession of the second half when they took over possession of the ball, following a White City punt, at the Husky 33-yard line. On the first play of the ensuing possession Solomon quarterback Shirack broke around the left side of White City’s line and danced 47-yards for the game-ending touchdown.
"As a team I think we are pretty good," Cross said. "We have a chance to be pretty good this year as long as the boys continue to work hard and believe in themselves and believe in what we are going and maintain a positive attitude we can do very well."
Solomon goes on the road next Friday night, its first road contest of the 2012 season, to play at Wakefield while White City plays at Little River next Friday night.
Solomon opened the season last Friday night with a 60-14 victory over Hope and Friday night the Gorillas made it 2-for-2 on 45-point Wheat State victories, both games were called in the third quarters.
"I know we could," Cross said of playing a full four-quarter game. "We have enough kids that are going in and out that I know we could play a full game. We have just been really playing well defensively. Offensively, we take what we can get but defensively we have been playing really well. It has just been a lot of fun to have the number of kids that we have and to keep a lot of fresh legs on the field."
In both games Solomon has been statistically led by quarterback Colton Shirack, who had 162 yards of total offense against Hope in the opener and 105 yards of total offense against White City, but Cross isn’t so sure about the thought that Shirack has been the main star.
Instead, Cross believes it is his defense, mainly his defensive backs.
"Defensively, I think our defensive backs played really well tonight defending the pass and staying with their man," Cross said. "Our line did their job then along with putting pressure on their quarterback."
Friday night, Solomon limited the Huskies to just 72 yards of total offense, all 72 through the air, but through the air White City managed to complete just six of 18 passes and Solomon intercepted three of those passes, including one by Daniel Durant, who returned it 15 yards for a touchdown.
Durant’s touchdown gave Solomon a 44-0 lead with 1:44 remaining in the first quarter.
"I would say the number of kids that we are able to get out there," Cross said of the reason behind Solomon’s early success. "We only have three guys going both ways and that really helps out a lot, we are able to wear other teams down fairly early and we are able to go both offensively and defensively."
Having the 44-point lead led Cross to put in his junior varsity offense while keeping his first-team defensive in the game.
"We got pretty much all of our team into the game," Cross said. "The first half we had JV in the game on offense, we kept our first string defense for the most part in the game to keep the score separated. But we had our JV offense in the game for a good four or five series."
The Huskies, facing just one point from the game going to a running clock in the second quarter, found the end zone with an eight-play, 57-yard drive that sandwiched the end of the first quarter with the beginning of the second quarter. White City got its only points of the game via a 15-yard touchdown pass from Sam Morgan to Jace Beavers with 11:46 still remaining before intermission.
The Gorillas answered that touchdown with a 38-yard touchdown run by Josh Burdine with 7:04 remaining before intermission and then tacked on a PAT kick by Blayne Neilson to make it a 51-8 contest.
The game made it to intermission and White City got the ball to start the second half but managed only one first down and threw an interception in the second half.
The Gorillas, meanwhile, finished the game on their third possession of the second half when they took over possession of the ball, following a White City punt, at the Husky 33-yard line. On the first play of the ensuing possession Solomon quarterback Shirack broke around the left side of White City’s line and danced 47-yards for the game-ending touchdown.
"As a team I think we are pretty good," Cross said. "We have a chance to be pretty good this year as long as the boys continue to work hard and believe in themselves and believe in what we are going and maintain a positive attitude we can do very well."
Solomon goes on the road next Friday night, its first road contest of the 2012 season, to play at Wakefield while White City plays at Little River next Friday night.
