Quinton Savages finish season with a victory

By TOBY CAWYER

The Quinton Savages closed out the 2009 football season with a win in front of their hometown supporters. Quinton (5-5) was disappointed by last week’s performance that left them with a bad taste in their mouth. The Savages fell short of a win last week in Savanna. They lost a defensive battle 10-6 to the Bulldogs.

The close loss was a theme for Quinton this year, three of their five losses were by 4 points or less.

The Haileyville Warriors (4-5) were also coming off of a close loss last week. They fell to Gore 7-0. Both teams, having already been eliminated from the playoffs, wanted to close their seasons on a positive note and with a win. And both squads played like it.

On the Warriors first play from scrimmage, junior running back Dominic Herring took the hand off and sprinted 70 yards for the score. Unfortunately for the young back and Haileyville, it was all for nothing. It was called back because of a holding penalty. The flag was the first of the night, but definitely not the last. Penalties plagued Haileyville all night long.

The Warriors did manage to get on the scoreboard first however with a play reminiscent of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Borrowing from the playbook of the Boise State Broncos, Haileyville got into the end-zone from 65 yards out on a “hook-and-lateral.” Senior quarterback Cody Irish hit wide receiver Junior Jordan Caldwell who pitched the ball to the streaking Herring who took it in for six. After the extra point, the Warriors led Quinton 7-0 with 6:14 left to play in the first quarter.

     Quinton would answer half way through the second quarter with a 7 yard touchdown run by junior Tyler Sills. Quinton head coach Chad Gragg made a position change this week moving Sills from the quarterback position he held all season long to running back. The move would prove to be a wise decision. Sills scored two more times before the half was over.

     Quinton recovered a fumble on the kickoff following their first touchdown and five plays later, Sills ran it in from 6 yards out to give the Savages a 14-7 lead with 9:07 left to play in the second quarter.

Following another fumble by the Warriors, Quinton only needed one play to get Sills into the end zone for his third score of the half. The 30-yard touchdown scamper gave the Savages the 21-7 lead with 6:32 left in the second quarter.

Sills also contributed on defense. He made a diving interception to keep Haileyville out of the endzone and secure the two touchdown lead going into half time.

     The Warriors came out of the locker room following the halftime break fired up. The Haileyville signal caller scored on a 2-yard quarterback sneak with 6 minutes left in the third quarter.

After the score, Quinton clung to a 21-13 lead. The Savages put together an impressive 13-play drive that eventually ended in Quinton turning the ball over on downs. The Warriors answered with a 10-play drive of their own. The major difference between the two was that Haileyville's march ended with six more points.

     The quarterback for the Warriors punched it in with another 2 yard quarterback sneak. With the run, Irish closed the Savage lead to two points with 5:45 left to play in the game. The Warriors attempted to tie the game with a 2 point conversion but the Quinton defense was not fooled by the fake hand-off to Herring and quarterback bootleg. Irish was brought down by two Savage defenders inches short of the goal line and short of knotting the score at 21.

     Neither team reached the end zone again and the Quinton Savages held on to the 2 point lead to win the hard fought contest 21-19. With the win, Quinton ends their season with a record of 5-5, with plenty to look forward to next year. The Savages only lose five Seniors this year, and coach Gragg is optimistic about next season. "Next year we are going to have a group of twelve or thirteen Seniors, so we'll have a chance to make a lot of noise," said Gragg.

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