Friday, September 24, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Unranked Cheyenne repels No. 1

Desert Shields exploit turnovers to roll past top-ranked Wildcats

By DAMON SEITERS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Cheyenne's Torrie Coleman bolts up the middle for a 59-yard TD run in the third quarter against Las Vegas on Thursday. Photo by Craig L. Moran. Cheyenne quarterback Quentin Carter (1) runs for a first down in the second quarter of the Desert Shields' 27-6 victory over top-ranked Las Vegas on Thursday night. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

After a 2-0 start, Cheyenne's football team felt it wasn't getting the respect it deserved. The Desert Shields shouldn't have to worry about that anymore.

Unranked Cheyenne took advantage of four Las Vegas turnovers on the way to a 27-6 road victory over the top-ranked Wildcats on Thursday.

"We get to the (Sunset) championship every year, and we couldn't even get ranked," Cheyenne linebacker Devin Brooks said. "We felt that was very disrespectful, and that's why we just came out here to prove to everybody that we're not soft."

Brooks played a key role for Cheyenne's defense with two tackles for a loss. His biggest play came on fourth-and-2 from the Cheyenne 44 with 3:35 to play when he stopped Las Vegas running back Eric Jordan for a 5-yard loss.

"I've been dreaming about it," Brooks said. "I've had dreams about this for nights about stopping them."

Safety Evon Buhecker also made a key stop on fourth down to close the third quarter. On fourth-and-5, Jordan appeared to have turned the corner, but Buhecker dragged him down from behind to stall another Las Vegas drive.

"We have a couple guys that can play football," Cheyenne coach Charles Anthony said. "We have a couple guys that are going to play at the next level. We don't brag about it; we just play football."

Las Vegas (3-1) turned the ball over on the first offensive play of the game when Perry Eppenger recovered a Jordan fumble at the Las Vegas 14. Four plays later, Torrie Coleman scored on a 6-yard run to put Cheyenne up 6-0.

Las Vegas fumbled again late in the quarter when Malcolm Armstrong couldn't catch a lateral from quarterback Jeremy Craddock. Jarrell Holman pounced on the ball at the Las Vegas 3 to set up Quentin Carter's 3-yard quarterback draw that put the Desert Shields (3-0) up 12-0.

Cheyenne converted a turnover on the next Las Vegas possession when Holman picked off a Ryan Seabolt pass and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown with 11:03 to go in the half. Coleman's 2-point conversion made it 20-0.

"This is the biggest win of my head coaching career," Anthony said. "(Las Vegas) is the best team in the state for the last five or six years."

The Wildcats did a good job against Coleman in the first half, limiting him to 37 yards on 14 carries. But on his second carry of the second half, Coleman showed the explosiveness that helped him gain 497 yards in the first two games. He ran straight up the middle for a 59-yard touchdown.

It was one of just two carries of more than 10 yards for Coleman, who finished with 141 yards on 31 carries.

Cheyenne did an equally strong job against Jordan, who entered the game with 882 yards rushing. Jordan had six carries of 10 or more yards, but he was stopped for a loss or no gain six times. He finished with 152 yards on 33 carries.