Red Demons ready for Indians
By Shelton Burch
Sports Editor
The Dodge City Red Demons football team takes on the Hays Indians tonight in Dodge City’s Memorial Stadium.
Each team is 2-3 overall this season, with Dodge City’s two wins coming against non conference opponents, and Hays’ against conference foes. Hays has beaten both Liberal and Great Bend this season. Dodge City is coming off a 61-6 drubbing of Wichita South last week.
Red Demons sophomore quarterback Beau Foster had a good game last week, completing
13⁄17 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns. Red Demons head coach Dave Foster said Beau Foster “had a heck of a game,” as did the receivers who caught nearly everything that night.
“He put balls where only our guys could catch them, and our guys did a good job going after footballs,”
Foster said. “He’s right where we thought he would be, that’s why he’s QB 1 right now.”
The load put on the sophomore is new by program standards, coach Foster said.
“We’ve never put this much on a sophomore,” Foster said. “We’ve never put this much just on a young quarterback. He’s absorbing it well, and it’s overwhelming to him all week long. When you put things on him, and your expectations, then that’s how you start the see the kind of results we’ve had.”
The game against Great Bend a couple of weeks ago has led to growth for the quarterback, Foster said, and Beau Foster is making strides, both in ball security and his ability to understand what the coaches are looking for, Coach Foster said.
“It’s tough because in reality we do not what the whole load to be on a sophomore’s shoulders at (the) quarterback position, and we’ve applied a lot of pressure to all of our guys understanding how vital they are in that role of, we’re able to run the ball effectively, it lessens some of that load,” Foster said.
Beau Foster was far from the only Red Demon to thrive in last Friday’s game, however. Senior Dawson Williams had 13 rushes for 54 yards and two touchdowns; one reception for 59 yards and a touchdown; and two punt-returns for 24 yards and a touchdown.
“He did everything we thought he could,” coach Foster said. “He played four different positions in the course of the night, and there’s gonna be weeks you’re not gonna see him in four spots, but you might see him isolated in a couple and us utilize him more out of a couple of those sites.”
The Indians are led by senior quarterback Hunter Brown, who is listed at 5 feet 8 inches tall and 178 pounds, according to the roster on the WAC website. Brown also plays corner back, according both to Foster and the roster.
“They put a lot on his shoulders,”Foster said.“The difference is he’s a senior and a proven football player for them and they’re solid defensively. Garden (City) scored seven on them,it took overtime for Great Bend to get 20 on them. They don’t have a glaring weakness that you look out there and say ‘We can attack em here or there.’ They are a very good defensive football team, and that’ll make for a tremendous challenge for our kids.”
The Red Demons take on the Hays Indians at 7 p.m. tonight in Dodge City’s Memorial Stadium.
