Mistakes keep No. 9 Hawks from 4-0

I just think we had some moments where we didn’t do the things we needed to do to take care of ourselves. I mean, that was the big thing.”

Doug Dodds, Central Lee Head Coach

DONNELLSON — Doug Dodds looked at his watch in the post-game huddle and started the countdown for Central Lee’s football team.
“I told them two hours and 15 minutes from now, we’re 0-0,” the Hawks’ coach said after Friday’s 20-14 loss to Davis County in the Class 2A District 5 opener for both teams. “Just one week at a time.”
It was the first defeat of the season for Central Lee (3-1), which was ranked No. 9 in Class 2A in the Associated Press poll this week, and it stung because the Hawks knew they had squandered some opportunities.
Central Lee had opened the season with three solid wins in which whatever mistakes the Hawks did make didn’t hurt.
The ones in this game were especially wounding.
The Hawks lost three fumbles, including one when they were driving late in the fourth quarter, and were penalized eight times for 55 yards.
“I just think we had some moments where we didn’t do the things we needed to do to take care of ourselves,” Dodds said. “I mean, that was the big thing.”
Central Lee fought back from an early 14-0 deficit to tie the game in the fourth quarter on Grant Myhre’s 19-yard touchdown run with 8:33 to play.
But Davis County (2-2) took less than two minutes to get the lead back. Carter Will’s 37-yard touchdown run completed a quick response that included a face-mask penalty on Central Lee. The extra point was blocked.
The Hawks, who had 298 yards of offense, started to move the ball against the Mustangs on the next possession, but they would commit their final turnover of the night on a fumbled handoff exchange, giving the ball back to Davis County, which was able to run out the clock.
The Mustangs took a 14-0 lead in the second quarter on two touchdown runs by Brett Prevo. The Hawks, though, weren’t daunted, getting a 42-yard touchdown run by Myhre late in the quarter.
“I told our guys we did some really good things,” Dodds said. “But we also did some things that were uncharacteristic of us that came back and bit us.
“We got turnovers on them, we got some stops, we moved the ball. There were a lot of positive things out of this game. It’s just they made an extra play or two that we couldn’t make.”
Will rushed for 143 yards. Prevo had 71 yards rushing.
Chase Johnson had 97 rushing yards for Central Lee. Kayden Calfee had 18 carries for 87 yards. Myhre had seven carries for 77 yards.