Payette logs season- opening win with red zone stand
By Ronald Bond - Argus Observer
Sunday, September 2, 2007 2:19 AM PDT
Payette - Payette Pirate head coach Troy Gleave said a couple weeks ago this was going to be the season the football team finally gets into the playoffs. Friday night, the Pirates took the first step in achieving that goal with a heart-pounding 14-6 victory over Melba at Harmon Killebrew Field in Payette.
Payette tallied a pair of second-quarter touchdowns before Melba scored midway through the third and threatened several times in the closing minutes. However, the Mustangs were unable to get the late score they needed.
“This is all the hard work from (when) last season ended, in the weight room, all the summer stuff, all that time, the heat for the three weeks out here, it gets to pay off,” Gleave said. “The kids get a victory and that’s big. That’s big mentally.”
The Mustangs best chance to knot the game came on its final possession when they recovered a fumble on Payette’s 34-yard-line. Three incompletions — including two dropped interceptions and a dropped touchdown pass — left Melba facing fourth and 10, but Mustang quarterback Jay Bangerter hit Zach Owens for 13 yards and a first down with 23 seconds left. The duo hooked up again three plays later, as Owens made a diving grab at the 3-yard-line. Out of timeouts, Melba rushed to the line and Bangerter spiked the ball with one second left, allowing for one final play.
With the crowd noise almost deafening, Melba’s Colter Smith took a hand-off up the middle, but ran into a wall of Payette defenders at the line of scrimmage and was stopped short, giving the Pirates the victory.
“We want to keep the crowd entertained, I guess,” Gleave said of the final series. “Big thing, if we pick the ball, and — holy cow what’d we drop four or five of them? We pick it off one time that whole thing is ended. We had plenty of chances. We just didn’t capitalize when we had the opportunities and they did. (Melba) kept battling, they got the ball back had a chance to get on the field. My hat’s off to them, man. They didn’t give up at all one down.
“We don’t play many games in the lead. I hope this is a very good wake up call about what to expect when we get a lead from here on out.”
Payette broke a scoreless tie early in the second quarter, embarking on a nine-play, 80-yard drive and chewing 31/2 minutes off the clock.
Deveon Reynolds posted the big play of the drive, breaking free for a 25-yard gain on third and seven to put the Pirates in scoring position, and fullback Corey Harrison capped off the drive on the next play with a 12-yard run to put Payette ahead 7-0.
An interception by Jake Dyer on Melba’s next possession put Payette in prime position again with the ball on the Mustangs 44.
After going nowhere the first two plays, and facing third and 11, quarterback Travis Blackwell hooked up with Damian Reynolds on a swing pass for a 30-yard-gain.
Deveon Reynolds finished the drive five plays later, scoring on a 2-yard-run to put the Pirates ahead 14-0 with 1:45 left in the half.
Melba came back strong in the third, scoring its lone touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Bangerter to Zach Miller.
Melba ended up outgaining the Pirates 354-214 in total yards, but was unable to crack into the endzone when it counted.
“I’m proud of the boys,” Mustang head coach Cory Dickard said. “They played with a lot of heart. We had a touchdown called back earlier in the game, dropped one in the endzone there at the end and just little things that we need to get fixed, but for the most part I’m proud of the effort the kids gave me.
I know that they’ll all be back in the film room on Monday ready to learn from their mistakes and move on.”
Bangerter finished 15-of-38 passing for 186 yards, hooking up with Owens eight times for 115 yards.
Harrison notched 51 yards rushing on the ground to lead Payette while Deveon Reynolds added 50 and Damian Reynolds had 50 yards receiving.
Blackwell completed 6-of-15 passes for 86 yards with an interception for the Pirates (1-0), who take on Marsing at home Friday for homecoming.
Alma wrote on Aug 28, 2009 8:22 PM:
Im so very proud of you, you did AMAZING!! Yet still very young and have years to improve, which seems scary. I know grandpa was cheering for you, chanting #1, #1... Keep up the great work kido. "