DCHS Sports

Red Demons play host to Garden City for home opener

September 20, 2016 By DCHS Sports

Red Demons play host to Garden City

After a month of loading up on a bus and hitting the road for their games, the Dodge City High School boys soccer team will play at Memorial Stadium for the first time this season.

The Red Demons (6-0, 2-0) played their first four games in Wichita before taking on Western Athletic Conference foes Liberal and Hays last week.

“We’ve been looking forward to it since the season started,” Dodge City head coach Saul Hernandez said. “It almost felt like we were never going to have a home game. It’s always special to play in front of the fans, I think the kids feed off of their energy.”

Dodge City’s first home game will be against the team that gave them the most trouble last season in WAC play, Garden City. The Buffaloes were the only WAC team to score a goal in both meetings with the Red Demons last season.

“Being a rivalry game, the intensity is up,” junior Miguel Baca said. “(Garden City) plays aggressive and we play aggressive so it’s a fun game to play.”

The only blemish on Garden City’s 5-1 record was a 3-2 loss to Liberal last Thursday. The Buffs have outscored their opponents 19-3 this season.

“The culture over there in Garden City is the same as over here,” Hernandez said. “It’s always tough playing against them. No one wants to lose that one.”

The Red Demons have outscored their opponents 29-5 so far this season. Their 24 goal differential is the best amongst the 32 teams in 6A.

Joshua DonJuan and Mario Martinez are leading the way for the Red Demons. The two juniors forwards have combined for 14 goals.

The varsity game is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

Wichita Heights tops Red Demons

September 17, 2016 By DCHS Sports

Red Demons fall to 2-1 on the season

By John Zetmeir

Whenever it looked like the Dodge City High School football team’s defense was going to get off of the field, the Wichita Heights’ offense found a way to keep the drive alive.

Heights had four scoring drives of 10 plays or more which included 80-yard, 85-yard and 90-yard drives in their 34-14 win over the Red Demons on Friday night.

‘We just lacked discipline defensively,’ Dodge City head coach Dave Foster said. ‘The keys are easy but it requires kids that will do as they are asked every single snap.’

Heights jumped out to a 14-0 lead before the Red Demons got on the scoreboard by capitalizing off of a Falcon turnover. Senior Kenedy Escobedo recovered a fumble on Heights 1-yard line to set up junior quarterback Dawson Williams’ eighth touchdown run of the season.

Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Dodge City appeared to have life once again when Williams connected with senior running back Tylor Garcia for a 47-yard touchdown pass to cut Heights’ lead to 21-14.

After the Red Demon touchdown, Heights milked nearly seven minutes off of the play clock as they drove the ball 90 yards on 12 plays for their fourth touchdown of the game.

‘I was proud of the kids’ effort, we just have to understand that we can’t go out and just play,’ Foster said. ‘(Heights) is a good football team and we had an opportunity to win the game but not when we make mistakes as we did.’ Heights finished with over 400 yards of total offense while their defense held the Red Demons to just under 200 yards of total offense. Sophomore quarterback K’Vante’ Baker and junior running back Dejuan Scott both scored a pair of touchdowns for Heights.

Dodge City (2-1) will head to Great Bend next Friday for their first road game of the season. Next Friday’s game will also be both teams Western Athletic Conference opener.

W. HEIGHTS – 7 7 7 13 – 34

DODGE CITY – 0 0 7 7 – 14

1Q, Heights, Scott 1 run. Kick good. 7-0

2Q Heights, Baker 12 run. Kick good. 14-0

3Q Dodge, Williams 1 run. Kick good. 14-7 Heights, Baker 24 run. Kick good. 21-7

4Q Dodge, Williams 47 pass to Garcia. Kick good. 21-14 Heights, Scott 4 run. Kick good. 28-14 Heights, Russell 50 pass to Hines. Kick fail 34-14

Demons host Wichita Heights

September 16, 2016 By DCHS Sports

Demons host Wichita Heights

By: John Zetmeir

Playing 11 different players on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball was something that the Dodge City High School football team was not able to do in recent years.

Though their first two games, the Red Demons (2-0) have shown that this year’s team has the depth and will not have to rely on six to eight players playing both ways, which was the case for the 2015 team. That depth is keeping the defense fresh and it is a big reason why they have only allowed two touchdowns so far this season.

That depth will face it’s toughest test at Memorial Stadium tonight when they host fellow unbeaten Wichita Heights (2-0).

“Now you find out how good you are,” Dodge City head coach Dave Foster said. “This is going to be a good evaluation for our kids to learn where we are at and then take our steps of progression to the next level.”

In last week’s 53-33 win over Wichita Northwest, Heights showed that they possess maybe the most potent rushing attack in the state. The Falcons tallied over 500 rushing yards with three different players adding over 100 yards on the ground.

“A big part of our defense is going to be built from the inside out with the thought process that we have to stop their fullback to their quarterback to their pitch game,” Foster said. “Their quarterback (K’Vante Baker) is the most dynamic runner that we’ve seen all year on film.”

Not only will the Red Demons rely on their depth defensively to try toslow down Heights’ flexbone offense, but they will need their offense to string together long drives to keep the Falcons’ offense off of the field.

“Our offense is also a great equalizer in terms of helping our defense out,” Foster said. “If we can sustain long drives, it sure makes a big difference in the course of the game. Shortening the game and getting effective scores has been our ticket.”

Junior quarterback Dawson Williams and senior running back Tylor Garcia have carried the load for the Red Demons offense through the first two weeks. Williams has scored eight total touchdowns which includes seven rushing and one passing. The one passing touchdown was a 41-yard catch and run by Garcia.

In the last two meetings, Heights has edged out the Red Demons by five points in each contest which included a 53-48 shootout last season in Wichita.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

9/15 RED DEMON ROUNDUP

September 16, 2016 By DCHS Sports

Red Demons shine in Hays

By: John Zetmeir

Boys soccer

In their first week of Western Athletic Conference play, the Dodge City High School boys soccer team looked just as dominant as they did a year ago when they did not drop a league game.

The Red Demons (6-0, 2-0) defeated Hays 9-0 on Thursday in Hays to finish up the six-game road stretch that they started the season on. Dodge City is at the top of the WAC standings after wins over Liberal and Hays.

Six Red Demons got on the score sheet with Tony De La Torre, Mario Martinez and Josue Castillo leading the way with two goals each. Eddie Del Toro, Diego Olivares and Joshua DonJuan added a goal as well.

Dodge City will play in front of its home crowd for the first time this season on Tuesday when they host Garden City. The Buffaloes fell to Liberal 3-2 on Thursday.

Cross country

The Dodge City boys cross country team took first place for their second straight meet with a team win in Hays on Thursday with a team score of 25.

Five Red Demons finished in the top-11 as senior Marcelo Cruz won the individual first place medal for the second meet in a row as well. Jason Luft and Javier Marquez both finished in the top-five.

The Dodge City girls took second in the class 5A-6A race and fourth overall with a 41 team points. Senior Coral Neave finished in the fourth with a time of 21:18.17 while sophomore Ayanna Hensley finished sixth to give Dodge City two top-10 finishers.

Both teams will have a little more than a week off before their next race on Sept. 24. The boys will go to Lawrence while the girls team travel to Stillwater, Okla.

Girls golf

The Dodge City girls golf team bounced back from a rough outing in Garden City with a fifth place finish in Eisenhower on Thursday amongst an 11-team field.

Chesney Moore and Makena Konrade led the Red Demons with scores of 49. Just behind the two leaders was senior Emily Stephenson who shot a 50.

The Dodge City girls will travel to Liberal next Thursday to tee off against their Western Athletic Conference foes Liberal, Great Bend, Hays and Garden City.

Other scores, Ali Phelps 53, Alexis Ontiberos 65, Olivia Gregg 70.

Dodge City girls win home Invitational

September 16, 2016 By DCHS Sports

By John Zetmeir

On a day that the Dodge City High School girls tennis team had to do some shuffling around, the Red Demons were still able to defend their home courts and win the Dodge City Invitational.

The Dodge City girls finished with 23 points, edging out Hays who tallied 21 points. The Red Demons earned top-three finishes in all four brackets.

“I thought we faced some adversity just because of the lineup change but in the grand scheme of things, I wanted us to get better for October,” Dodge City head coach David Snodgrass said. “Certain girls needed to get better whether it was by hitting more balls at singles or playing doubles. So overall we accomplished what we wanted to do.”

Because of an injury to senior Daniela Villarreal, senior Hannah Sowers was asked to play singles for the first time at the varsity level. The senior won all of her matches on her way to a first place finish in the No. 2 singles bracket.

“I was very nervous but my coach had very high expectations for me so I was just happy to live up to his expectations,” Sowers said.

Sowers qualified for last year’s 6A state tournament as part of a doubles team.

Junior Leah Stein lost just one match to earn third place in the No. 1 singles bracket. The No. 1 doubles team of Kameron Lowery and Marin Dameron also took third while Siarra Grice and Abigail Argumedo scored six team points as they finished second in the No. 2 doubles field.

The Red Demons will continue to prepare for the Western Athletic Conference championships on Oct. 3 over the next three tournaments starting in Salina on Sept. 22. Dodge City is looking to defend last year’s conference championship.

“These ladies have bought in and they understand that we’re in it for team championships,” Snodgrass said. “Sometimes you have to sacrifice individual success to win a team championship. We have four great girls who would make great singles players but two of those girls are really good doubles players too. So overall it’s made our team stronger.”