By Dr. David Davis
Trailing 20-14 late in the fourth quarter, the Dawson Eagles had a ray of hope to pull out a win over the Clear Creek Wildcats, who were leading by a thread in the Class 6A Region III Div. II bi-district round of the playoffs.
With 1:32 left in the game, Dawson QB Gage Greene dropped back to pass deep in his own territory. That’s when Clear Creek defensive back Quinton Gray stepped in front of the Dawson wide receiver, grabbed the pass in full stride, and returned it 15 yards for a score to ice the 27-14 win for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats scored first in the opening quarter on a 6-yard run for a 7-0 lead.
The Eagles tied up the game when senior QB Gage Greene scored on a 5-yard keeper with 8:37 left in the second quarter to complete an 8-play, 53-yard scoring drive to make the score 7-7.
But the excitement by the Dawson fans was short-lived as Cah’lil Ward took the ensuing kickoff from his own 20, cut to the right sideline, picked up some blockers, and then cut to his left and simply outran the Eagles for a sensational 80-yard kickoff return for the score and a 14-7 lead with 8:22 left in the first half.
Clear Creek scored late in the third quarter on a 23-yard field goal by Garrett Carlton to increase the lead to 17-7. But, the Eagles quickly answered when running back Bryce Burgess scored on a 15-yard run to close the gap to 17-14 with 2:12 left in the third.
The Wildcats tacked on another 30-yard field goal by Carlton to increase the lead to 20-14 with 8:29 remaining in the game.
Dawson still had a little hope when they got possession of the ball deep in their own territory but saw the Wildcats nail the coffin shut with the pick-6 that sealed the game 27-14.
The key to the win by Clear Creek was their defense, as the Eagles only garnered 223 total yards, while Bryce Burgess had 181 total yards, with 175 coming on the ground with one TD. Burgess finished the season with 1,372 yards rushing and 20 TDs.
The Dawson passing attack suffered the worst damage as Greene was only 3-of-19 passing for 19 yards — far below his 153 yards per game average.
The Eagles close out the season with a 6-5 mark while Clear Creek advances to face Summer Creek (10-1), who eliminated Dawson last season in the second round 35-7.
