Once again, the Douglas High School football team came up just short in its bid to win a Sierra League football game. And again, the Wooster Colts seemed to find a way to win.
Wooster scored a pair of second-half touchdowns to post a come-from-behind 28-21 victory that clinched first-place in the league with one week to go in the regular season.
The Colts are now 4-0 in league (6-2 overall), although those four wins have been decided by a combined total of 23 points. The Colts have come from behind in the second half to win twice in the last three weeks.
Douglas hasn't been so fortunate, on the other hand. The Tigers are now 0-4 league (2-6 overall) and have lost in each of the last three weeks by a single touchdown, including an overall defeat at Reno the week before.
"The kids played hard and we could have won this game," Douglas coach Mike Rippee said. "We were up 21-13, they scored in the second half and we didn't, that's all there is to it. We just have to get ready for the next one."
The Tigers still have a chance to qualify for the Northern 4A playoffs in they win their final regular season game Thursday night at home against Carson (1-3, 4-4).
Dusty Cornwall scored on a 1-yard run to give Douglas an early 7-0 lead. Erik Olson's touchdown pass reception from Jared Kenison put the Tigers up 14-7 and Drew Hall scored on a 38-yard fake punt play to give them a 21-13 lead shortly before halftime.
Wooster tied the score at the end of the third quarter and scored the go-ahead touchdown in the final two minutes of play.
"It came down to they smash-mouthed us on that last drive," Rippee said. "They ran right at us and we didn't stop them."