SPARKS " The general take leading up to Friday night's matchup between the Douglas and Reed football teams was that it was going to be an offensive shootout.
Someone forgot to tell the Tiger defense.
Douglas forced two fumbles and came up with three interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, on its way to a 40-13 win at Reed Friday night.
"The defense did a great job tonight," Douglas cornerback Tanner Thomas said. "We all played hard. It was just the whole defense, we came through on everything tonight.
"Reed is incredible. They are fast, they are good, they know how to play. We just came out fighting, though. We need to keep working from here and not let up."
Thomas was all over the field for the Tigers, picking off two passes " on the second, he literally stole the second out of a Reed receiver's hands in the end zone " forcing and recovering a fumble with five seconds left in the first half to set up a touchdown and throwing a 22-yard pass to Zach McFadden on a fake punt.
Just for good measure, he also caught two passes for 16 yards on offense and helped contain Reed's top receiving threat to 86 yards on the night.
"We put a lot of pressure on him to step up and perform," Douglas coach Mike Rippee said. "We took him and put him on what we felt was their best receiver and he came through.
"Our whole defensive backfield did a great job tonight as well, Brad Gonzales, Davey Fisher and Nico Barker. We got good pressure from the guys up front and it worked out for us."
Indeed, Douglas held the pass-happy Raiders to 147 yards in the air while giving up 156 yards on the ground.
The Douglas offensive, on the other hand, rolled out one of its finest performances in years as Tim Rudnick threw for 278 yards and four touchdowns with one interception and the Tigers piled up 141 yards on the ground. McFadden caught six passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns and James McLaughlin caught six passes for 96
yards and a touchdown.
Johnny Pollack had 93 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground and 23 yards and a touchdown receiving.
Reed got off to a quick start, driving 80 yards in seven plays to take a 7-0 lead on a three-yard pass from Tyler Pine to Lennox Pierce.
"I don't know what was going on with us early on there but we came out a little slow," Rippee said. "We were trying to take away their quick scores and they came right out and got in the end zone. That woke us up."
It appeared the shootout was on after Douglas came right back with an 11-play, 76-yard drive. Rudnick hit Pollack on a screen pass and a big block by tackle Parker Robertson set Pollack loose for a 24-yard touchdown pass on the drive.
"We caught fire when the offense answered," Rippee said.
Reed wouldn't see the end zone again until late in the fourth quarter. The Raiders only got two plays into their next drive before the Tigers forced a fumble that linebacker Kameron VanWinkle fell on at the Reed 29.
Rudnick found McFadden in the shallow right corner of the endzone seven plays later for a 20-yard touchdown pass and the 13-7 lead.
The Tiger defense held on the next possession and Douglas got the ball back at the 50 after a shallow punt.
Six plays later, a 20-yard pass from Rudnick to McLaughlin set Douglas up at the Reed 5 and Pollack later punched it in from four yards out.
Douglas was driving with time dwindling in the half before Reed's Zach Comphel picked off a Rudnick pass and returned it to the Reed 38.
Thomas came back two plays later, however, and stripped the ball away from Pierce to give Douglas possession at the Reed 45 with five seconds left on the clock.
Rudnick dropped back on what was designed to be a hail mary, but he unleashed a monster pass that hit an open McFadden in stride in the end zone for the 45-yard score with no time left on the clock.
"We work on that, the hail mary," Rippee said. "We tell them to go up and get the ball.
Timmy goes out there and puts the ball 60 yards in the air and Zach tracked it down. That was a big score.
"Getting into the locker room a 20-7 would've been big, but getting the touchdown heading in was huge."
Douglas got another boost in the third quarter when Luis Pina-Duarte picked off a Pine pass at the Douglas 30 and returned it 70 yards for the score.
Reed put a nice drive together late in the third and appeared to have a sure touchdown as Pierce caught the ball in the air in the end zone. Thomas, however, stripped the ball away before Pierce landed and came away with possession.
"Tanner plays the ball in the air as well as anybody," Rippee said. "You see him out there, he keeps with the pass and becomes a receiver out there."
Pine later found Mitchell Payne for a five-yard touchdown pass, but Douglas came right back with a six-play drive that culminated in a 23-yard touchdown pass from Rudnick to McLaughlin, essentially sealing the win.
Robbie O'Dell had a sack in the game for the Tigers and Barker had a number of big pass break-ups in the third quarter.
"Nico did a really good job whenever they decided to go the other direction on us," Rippee said. "We have a long ways to go, though. We are 0-0 now, division play is a whole new season."