On the road for the final games of the season, the Malad Dragon football took on the Declo Hornets.  The coaches and players knew that the Friday night game would be challenging and while they came into the game with realistic expectations of the outcome, they never gave up hope of the Dragons playing a great game.  

Declo came into the game with an 8-1 record, their only defeat from the Aberdeen Tigers early in the season.  The Hornet’s boast of a strong football program with a winning record most seasons.  The team’s success can be attributed to many factors including their athlete’s football prowess, natural ability, size and drive.   

From the first kickoff of the game, the Dragons could see that their game would be a battle on the field.  Receiving the ball, Malad attempted the first drive of the game.  Trying to move the ball with both their running and passing game, the Dragons could hardly move the chains on their opening first down attempt and were forced to punt after three downs.  

The Hornets began their drive on the DHS 45 yard line and, despite Malad’s best efforts to hold them back, consistently gained ground with each down.  The Dragon defense never gave up, even as they were backed up against the endzone.  With only a yard to gain before scoring, Declo was forced to attempt not one, but three plays before they could finally move the ball across the goal line.

On their first attempt, junior Holden Tubbs blew through the line to wrap up the Hornet ball carrier with Zayne Thomas coming in with the assist to finally bring him down.  Left unblocked again, Tubbs ran uncontested to take down the DHS quarterback for a loss.  With a little more room to maneuver, Declo unfortunately connected with the endzone on their third down.  Malad did manage to hinder their PAT attempt, keeping the score to 0-6.

Back on offense, the Dragons were ready to march down the field.  Coming within a yard of a first down, it looked as if their second drive would have more success than the first.  But a flag on the offense on third down pushed them back five yards, putting the first down out of reach.

The Hornets had high hopes of scoring again before the end of the first quarter, but the Dragon defense strung together a number of stops to slow their drive.  Most notably was the Declo five yard loss thanks to the quarterback taken courtesy of Tubbs and Dawsyn Peterson.

Stepping onto the field to begin the second quarter, Malad once again challenged the Hornets as they neared the goal line.  But it was too much to hold the line, allowing the touchdown on their third play of the quarter.  Declo was unsuccessful at their second PAT attempt, going up 0-12.

While the MHS offense struggled on their next drive, it was clear to see that they were beginning to read the defense and see the potential on the field.  Quarterback Easton Green may have been wary of the oncoming defense but held strong each play, waiting for his options to finally break open.  In one instance, he patiently waited for his receiver to be in position, throwing the ball down field just second before being tackled.  His pass, right on target, looked to be good until one of the three defenders surrounding the MHS receiver batted the ball down.

The Dragon defense turned up the pressure as the Hornets took possession of the ball again.  Holding the line on DHS run up the middle, Brady Showell managed to trip up the runner, forcing a fumble as the Hornet back fell to the ground.  The ball rolled outside of his reach but just in front of Justin Toone, who was quick to see the free ball on the field and jump on it to take possession for Malad.

Spurred up by the great stop, the Malad offense did what they couldn’t do on any other drive of the game- convert on downs and march into the endzone.  Green and his offense executed with great skill as they were sitting fourth and seven on the 45 yard line. After faking the handoff to Showell, Green began to drop back with the Declo defense coming in.  Showell, running a diagonal route for the sideline, looked back to his quarterback to pick up the pass for a Malad first down.  

The Hornet gave the Dragons an easy assist as they were flagged for encroachment on the next play.  Replaying the down, Green stepped back to throw to Showell downfield.  The Declo safety reached up to catch the ball, but not before the official threw a flag on the play against the defense.  

Now within yards of the end zone, Green snapped the ball and handed off to Tubbs to bring them within one yard.  Going with the same successful play, Green connected with Tubbs again to run the ball in for a Dragon touchdown, bringing the score to 6-12.

Unfortunately, Malad was unable to carry that same success and energy throughout the game.  Declo added 21 points after the Dragons’ lone touchdown to win 6-33.

Malad has one final game before the end of the regular season.  The team will travel to West Side on Friday, October 25 to take on the Pirates.