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TJ Dominates the Angels

November 11, 2007

A solid game start to finish leads TJ football  to a 34-3 victory over East.

 

by Marc Houghton

 

poeast241.jpg    An all around great performance on both sides of the ball was the story for the Spartan football boys, as they defeated the East Angels 34-3 on Friday night at All City Stadium.  A relentless offensive attack and stingy defense handled the Angels with ease, as TJ moves past the second round of the Colorado state playoffs. 

    The Spartans gained momentum right out of the gate, as they recovered an East fumble on the Angels' nine yard line on the first drive of the game.  The series ended in a missed field goal, but TJ came out ready to score on their next drive after a bad punt set them up on the East 49 yard line.  A big first down run by quarterback Michael Mankoff led to a 28 yard touchdown pass to Brandon Lowe at the end of the first quarter.  Mankoff had a number of solid runs on the night, finishing with nine carries for 63 yards rushing and a touchdown. 

    As usual, the 5A third leading rusher Devon Fitzgerald had an outstanding performance, running for 182 yards on 27 carries.  He was the key to the Spartans' offense all night, as he was able to break off first down runs at will.  His three touchdown carries of 5, 11, and 2 yards helped put TJ up 28-0 by early in the third quarter. 

    The Spartan defense was no less effective, holding East to only three points and not allowing the Angels' talented offense to get going all night.  The Angels were only able to manage 152 yards of total offense against the TJ defense, after putting up over 500 yards last week in their first round victory against Overland.  Great pass rush by Matthew Mankoff and Ian Squire kept the talented running back Quintin Hildreth in check, coming off a four-touchdown performance last week.  The defense held East to 2 of 10 third down conversions, and allowed only 32 passing yards. 

    After finishing the game with a convincing 34-3 victory, the Spartans will move on to the third round of the playoffs, taking on the Huskies of Douglas County.  The Huskies will be coming off a 31-21 win over Arvada West.  Always a strong and very physical team, TJ will have their hands full with Douglas County next week, but the Huskies will have to become the first team all season to prove that they can top the undefeated Spartans.

 

TJ Spartans 7 14 7 6 34
East Angels 0 0 3 0 3


First quarter:
TJ - Brandon Lowe 31 pass from Mike Mankoff (Ryan Allen kick).
Second quarter:
TJ - Devon Fitzgerald 5 run (Allen kick). TJ - Fitzgerald 10 run (Allen kick).
Third quarter:
DE - Zach Grossnickel 52 field goal. TJ - Fitzgerald 2 run (Allen kick).
Fourth quarter:
TJ - Mankoff 5 run (kick failed).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:
Rushing - DE, Quentin Hildreth 13-66, Koree Ross 9-44, Josh Russell 13-10; TJ, Fitzgerald 27-182, Mankoff 9-63, Allen 5-13, Michael Craig 1-5, Matthew Averyhart 1-4.
Passing - DE, Russell 4-10-2-32; TJ, Mankoff 4- 11-0-66.
Receiving - DE, DaVaughn Thornton 1-23; Ross 2-4, Hildreth 1-5; TJ, Lowe 2-36, D.J. Short 1-19, Fitzgerald 1-11.
stats courtesy rockypreps.com

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Written by Marc Houghton · Filed Under Football, Headlines, Sports