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Battle Mountain Huskies football finds a way to win over Middle Park, 14-7

Battle Mountain quarterback Traver Goldberg breaks a tackle during the second quarter of his team's game against Middle Park, on Friday, Aug. 24, in Edwards. The Huskies beat the Panthers, 14-7.
Rachael Zimmerman | Special to the Daily

Battle Mountain Football

Panthers 0 0 7 0 — 7

Huskies 0 7 7 0 — 14

First quarter

No scoring

Second quarter

B – Nick Walter, 2 run, (Anthony Sanchez kick), 0:33

Third quarter

B — Traver Goldberg to Camden Dooley, 45 pass, (Sanchez kick). 9:54

M — Gabe Lohberg to A.J. Roubidoux, 5 pass (kick good), 0:58

Fourth quarter

No scoring

EDWARDS — Battle Mountain football coach Jim Schuppler had talked up the play of sophomore Anthony Sanchez during the preseason.

He apparently did so with good cause.

The sophomore, playing at corner back, deflected Middle Park quarterback Gabe Lohberg’s pass on fourth-and-1 from Huskies’ 17 with 40 seconds left in their game on Friday, Aug. 24, to preserve Battle Mountain’s 14-7 win over the Panthers.



This one will fall under the category of is the glass half empty or half full? Sure, the Huskies spent a good portion of the game undermining themselves with penalties. They let 2A Middle Park hang around in the game too long, and they and need to work the shotgun snap on offense. The bottom line — and glass half-full perspective — is that Battle Mountain came away with a win by making enough big plays on both sides of the ball.

Up 7-0 after a stop-and-start — mostly stop — first half, the Huskies mounted what would be the game-winning drive on their first possession of the second half. Battle Mountain had finally got its double-wing offense going, establishing the run in the first half. A 9-yard run by quarterback Traver Goldberg got the Huskies into plus-territory to start the drive.

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The ground game set up the pass as Goldberg hit a wide — very wide open — Cam Dooley for a 45-yard yard touchdown strike and a 14-0 lead.

Middle Park would halve the lead with ensuing touchdown drive of its own to end the third quarter.

The first half looked a lot like a high school football game played on Aug. 24. The Huskies couldn’t get anything going offensively during the first quarter. The good news was that Battle Mountain’s defense was up to the task with three interceptions in the first half alone.

Sanchez was the first to pick off Lohberg. Huskies senior Garrett Anderson nabbed the next two interceptions. Anderson’s second grab was exactly why defenses practice the tip drill over and over during the summer.

Anderson’s return set up the Huskies at the Panthers’ 44-yard line with 41 seconds left in the first half. Goldberg went to the air immediately. The pass wasn’t exactly a tight spiral, but credit Nick Walter with going up and battling for a great catch and a 42-yard gain. Rightly, Walter got the next carry, a 2-yard plunge into the end zone for the first touchdown of the season.

The Huskies (1-0) take on Alameda next week at Trailblazer Stadium on the Front Range.


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