Douglas football closes out Wooster to open league play

Things got a little hairy for Douglas High football in the third quarter Friday night, but it didn't change the end result as the Tigers beat Wooster 42-22 to open Sierra League play.

Douglas, which was also celebrating Homecoming Friday night, played about as perfect of a first half as it could have asked for, getting stopped just twice on the way to a 21-2 lead at the intermission.

In the third quarter, Wooster landed the first blow, driving 88 yards on seven plays as Jamel Wright polished off the scoring drive with a 17-yard touchdown run.

Wooster cut its deficit to 21-9 for all of 15 seconds of game play as Douglas' Isaiah Geilenfeldt broke off a 90-yard touchdown return on the ensuing kickoff.

The Colts answered back with another scoring drive that went the length of the field in six plays to make it 28-15 Tigers with 5:14 left to play in the third quarter.

After a Tiger interception, Wooster continued to pound the ball to the left side of the Douglas defense, resulting in the Colts' third offensive score in the quarter.

Up 28-22 with 51 seconds remaining in the third quarter, the Douglas defense settled back in.

"We didn't adjust right away," said Douglas head coach Ernie Monfiletto. "When you're up on somebody like that you can't come out flat like that."

Wooster picked off a bobbled pass just outside of its own red zone, but the 11 Tiger defenders forced a crucial three-and-out to give the ball back to Douglas' offense.

It was the spark the Tigers needed as Isaac Shaver led the Tigers down the field and hit Cameron Swain on a 21-yard reception with his wideout standing all alone in the end zone.

"I knew from the start looking at how the defense was it would be open," Swain said postgame. "We worked on it in practice, on how to bend the routes."

It was the first of two touchdowns for Swain as he caught the game's final blow – a lofted 26-yard strike from Shaver that made it 42-22 with 2:13 left in regulation.

Geilenfeldt's kickoff return wasn't his only big play of the evening. In the first half, Shaver found his junior wideout on a fade route to the corner of the end zone.

The 6-2 wide receiver reached up for the fade pass and dragged his left foot just prior to reaching the near sideline for six.

"That wasn't even planned," said Geilenfeldt. "I just had to go get it."

That pitch-and-catch put Douglas up 14-0 late in the first quarter.

The Tigers' opening score came on a quarterback keeper as Shaver punched the ball in from one-yard out to get Douglas on the board first.

Douglas' other score came early in the second quarter when Shaver hit Trevor Kruger on a screen pass that the halfback took 46 yards to pay dirt. Shaver ended the contest with four passing touchdowns and one more on the ground.

Opening the league season with a win had the Tiger head coach fired up.

"We're in first place. We're 1-0. So it means a lot for those kids to bounce back and play hard," said Monfiletto.

UP NEXT: Douglas will hit the road next Friday as the Tigers travel to take on Galena (2-3, 1-0). The Grizzlies are coming off a 6-3 win over Carson to open up league play.

"Galena's a good team, but I think we got them," said Geilenfeldt.

"When we get up we can't let go," said Swain. "We've got to keep going."