HUGO — Not many teams have Manuel Gonzales’ number. Dayspring Christian does.
Just nine months after the Eagles knocked the legendary Granada coach’s squad out of the Class A 8-man semifinals, Dayspring again proved it will be tough to contend with in 2008.
Dayspring Christian, ranked No. 3 in The Denver Post’s preseason poll, ran past No. 5 Granada 35-15 on Saturday at Genoa-Hugo’s Harold Kravig Memorial Field in a nonleague game, the opener for both teams.
“I really didn’t see that happening,” said Dayspring Christian coach Mick Holmes, whose team was playing with several second-string players up front.
Playing at a different speed — the Eagles’ modus operandi the last few seasons — helped Dayspring jump on the Bobcats early. On the Eagles’ first offensive play of the game after Brock Martin intercepted Granada’s Tyndan Marquez, Dayspring senior Kyle Taplin, who finished with 138 yards on 14 carries, went 34 yards untouched to open the scoring.
The play that set the tone came early in the second quarter. A high snap over punter Jared Sanderford’s head was eventually recovered by Sanderford, who bolted past a stunned Granada punt-return team 57 yards for a score.
“I told the kids I’m going to put that in the playbook,” Holmes said. “He’s just such a talent . . . a blessed kid.”
In addition to his special- teams heroics, Sanderford rushed 17 times for 193 yards and completed 5-of-8 passes for 97 yards. Martin was on the receiving end of both Sanderford TD passes.
“Once we got up, it seems like they kind of let up a little bit,” said Sanderford, whose Eagles torched Granada last year 47-17 in the semis. “We started out a little slow, but once we got going, it started to kick in.”
Granada, which came away with no points after back-to- back first-half drives inside the Eagles’ 10-yard line, got a touchdown from big back Tyson Thrall to cut the lead to 14-7, but the Bobcats were held in check the rest of the way.
Thrall ran for 70 yards on 19 carries but carried just once in the second half after a pulled hamstring slowed him. Marquez was just 8-for-19 for 89 yards and was intercepted twice.
“I knew we might have a hard time. They just have too much speed for us,” said Gonzales, in his 45th season at Granada. “This is a high- caliber team.”
Dayspring Christian 7 15 13 0 — 35
Granada 0 7 0 8 — 15
DC — Taplin 34 (Sanderford kick). DC — Sanderford 57 run (Moore run). G — Thrall 13 run (Widener kick). DC — Martin 38 pass from Sanderford (Sanderford kick). DC — Martin 11 pass from Sanderford (Sanderford kick). DC — Sanderford 3 run (kick failed). G — Dominguez 18 run (Ty. Marquez run).
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
