It is said, that winning is everything, not always, especially if your leading offensive and defensive player goes down with an injury. The Bulldogs lost workhorse Ethan Workman to a broken clavicle Friday night during the Bulldogs 34-28 win over the Eagles from Boulder City. Workman went down in the third period and was the leading rusher for the Dawgs, with 70 yards and two touchdowns. He had 7 tackles at that point to lead the defense. “He was our leader,” said Virgin Valley Coach Matt Woods.” Everyone on this team is going to have to step up to replace him.”
The Bulldogs got on the scoreboard first on a Workman touchdown. Benson Leavitt added the two point conversion on a six yard pass from Gavin Brown. The Dawgs led 8-0 after one period of play. The Bulldogs increased their lead in the second period on a short pass from Brown to wide out Jared Jensen. Workman ran in the conversion to give the Bulldogs a 16-0 advantage. Brown would split the Eagles defense with two strikes of 64 and 65 yards to Leavitt giving the Bulldogs a 28-6 lead after one half of play. Workman would add a touchdown run of 15 yards in the third period for their final score. After Workman went down, the Dawgs needed all their energy to keep the Eagles at bay the rest of the game. The Eagle rally fell short giving the dawgs their toughest test and fourth win of the year.
Quarterback Brown had another great day with 15-20 attempts for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns. Leavitt was on the receiving end of 4 passes for 156 yards a remarkable 38 yards per catch.
It was a great game for the Bulldogs but, the irony of small town football is putting enough players on the field to keep injuries at a minimum. The Bulldogs seem to have a recurring problem each year as their two way players go down to injuries. The Bulldogs have lost four starters this year through only four games. With archrival Moapa Valley on the horizon, the Dawgs need to regroup this week to host a 3-2 SLAM Academy squad who rolled over Rancho and Western High Schools by scored of 28-6 and 52-0 respectively. Both teams are league opponents down the road. The game will be played Friday night at 7pm in the Dawg Pound.
