By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

DALLAS, Ore.–  This was just one of those insane games that you just couldn’t just draw up, that you couldn’t just re-duplicate easily perhaps.  150 points were scored amongst Dallas and Crescent Valley and it was a tight game to the end with the Dragons taking the game 79-71.  

Yes, you read that right, 79-71.  More like a basketball score than a football score Thursday night.  But overall, it was a grueling mental test to say the least with the Raiders and Dallas closing out the regular season on this unique occasion.

“Mentally, it was just a big shocker and we just needed to know that we needed to make a shift on that,” said Corey Miller.  “Mainly all that success goes down to our offensive line.  That goes on to them and being able to block for us and that’s where we focus on mainly every week is our success and we matched that greatly compared to them is to being able to run the ball over-and-over again.  And then not being able to stop that, we just kept running-and-running until they stopped us pretty much.”

That offensive line was crucial in the running game of the Dragons.  Dalton Baker and Isaiah Mosley each had over 100-yards rushing.  Zayvlan Webster and Mosley each scored three rushing touchdowns.  Miller and Brock Dunkin each saw roughly 50-yards at least rushing as ten Dallas runners had a carry.  And they needed every block to make it happen from the show that Crescent Valley were putting on from the other side of the ball.

“It was a good game, a great game because we needed it.  We under-performed last week, so having this game for our O-line was really good this week,” Dallas offensive lineman Kyron Dodds said.  “It was the fight in us really.  Our O-line, we have two seniors on the line and three juniors…just being mentally focused and all that.”

From the Raiders side, Rocco McClave found himself throwing ten touchdowns to help keep Crescent Valley with it.  The largest lead that the Dragons had was 51-33 early in the second half, Dallas turning a 38-33 deficit into that margin from a Webster touchdown, blocked Field Goal returned for a score by Adrian Xibile going into the halftime break and a Mosley score.  This was probably the most important stretch of the game to aid the Dragons down the stretch of the victory with the Raiders converting on  four two-point conversions and getting one defensive stop to help make it a one-score game with 1:14 left in the game.

And there was a feel of perhaps Overtime was in the air as Crescent Valley attempted an onside kick.  Dallas would deny such an opportunity when they recovered the onside attempt and burn out the remainder of the time to snap their two-game skid as they await to see what is to come of a possible playoff berth as they wrap up the regular season 5-3.

“It feels amazing and it feels really good.  It’s nice to go out with a win on our final game on this field with the seniors, it feels good,” Mosley said.  “It was crazy, but our O-Line, they’re all fantastic, they worked their asses off and did everything.  They made all the blocks we needed in moments.”

Photos By Jeremy McDonald