Greeley – After his team’s 55-6 victory over Strasburg in Week 1, University coach Had Soto got a call from his mother. He told her the score and her response was: “Were they that good?”
Mom misunderstood.
She got visual proof Saturday that these are not the University Bulldogs of old. Soto’s reclamation project improved to 2-0 with a 21-14 nonleague victory over Highland at Tom Roche Field.
“She’s probably going to tell us that we are going to have to clean it up if we are going to have any more success down the road,” said Soto, who is trying to direct the Bulldogs to the playoffs for the first time since 1985.
“It feels awesome to be 2-0. Who would have ever thought that?”
A stagnant University offense that was limited to just 29 offensive yards on 22 plays in the first half started to show signs of life midway through the third quarter.
After forcing a fourth Highland turnover, University took over on its own 9-yard line. Twelve plays and 6 1/2 minutes later, the Bulldogs finally scored when Dan Palmer ran in from 5 yards out.
The key play on the drive was a fourth-and-1 call, on which everyone expected Palmer to get the ball. But quarterback Shane Mendoza ran a bootleg around the right side for 11 yards.
“We made some good adjustments at half, and once we got hot, everyone just got really excited,” said Palmer, who rushed for five touchdowns in the victory over Strasburg.
Palmer finished with 152 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns Saturday.
After the Huskies committed their sixth turnover of the game, University took over inside the Highland 10. It took just two plays to score, with Mendoza hitting Evan Perez from 8 yards out.
But the Huskies (who haven’t been in the playoffs since 1977) responded with their best. A 79-yard drive guided by freshman quarterback Johnny Rehurek tied the score.
A 28-yard pass that went off the hands of University’s Ronnie Blea and through Seth Flack’s found receiver Joe Stieber for the touchdown, and a two-point conversion tied it.
Then Palmer busted his biggest run of the day, a 50-yard jaunt for the winning score.
Rehurek was 9-of-20 passing for 131 yards and one touchdown.
“It’s all part of the growing pains,” said Highland coach Todd Matkin, whose team starts 1A North Central League play Friday against Wray. “This was probably the most intense, sloppy game I’ve ever been a part of.”
Highland 0 6 0 8 – 14
University 0 0 0 21 – 21
H – Kildahl 1 run (kick blocked). U – Palmer 5 run (Palmer kick). U – Perez 8 pass from Mendoza (Palmer kick). H – Stieber 28 pass from Rehurek (Stieber pass from Rehurek). U – Palmer 50 run (Palmer kick).
Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
