LAKEWOOD — Palisade knew what was coming, but it was up to the Bulldogs to find a way to stop Caleb Flack and D’Evelyn’s vaunted passing attack.
Dropping back an extra defender and getting a little help from Jaguars receivers did the trick.
A pair of tipped passes off the hands of Jaguars receivers fell right into the hands of Palisade sophomore Caden Woods — the second leading to an early fourth-quarter TD run by Woods for the eventual game-winning score as the fourth-ranked Bulldogs (2-0) rolled into Trailblazer Stadium on Saturday and upset second-ranked D’Evelyn 36-29.
Flack, who rushed for one score and completed 31-of-45 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns, was picked off three times — the last two resulting in 14 fourth- quarter points for Palisade.
“Palisade creates their own turnovers. They’re a physical football team,” D’Evelyn coach Jeremy Bennett said. “We (had) receivers with happy feet on a couple of curl routes. We tipped the ball up to them, volleyball-drilled it, and if we don’t tip it, those are completions. But Palisade causes that.”
Woods, who rushed for two touchdowns, made both picks in the third quarter. The first stopped a potential Jaguars scoring drive after D’Evelyn had driven inside the Palisade 20.
D’Evelyn (1-1) had taken a 21-14 lead late in the third quarter on the first of two TD passes by Flack to sophomore wide receiver Jake Stratman. But Ronald Kuntz returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a score. Quinn Zamora’s two-point conversion run started a run of 22 consecutive points for the Bulldogs.
And if Palisade needed any more evidence that the ball was bouncing its way twice in the fourth quarter, quarterback Luke McLean fumbled only to have an offensive teammate recover. The second time, Connor Charlesworth pounced on the loose ball in the end zone for an insurance touchdown.
Palisade 0 14 8 14 — 36
D’Evelyn 0 14 7 8 — 29
P — McLean 1 run (run failed); D — Gordan 2 run (Elliot kick); P — Caden Woods 1 run (McLean run); D — Flack 12 run (Elliot kick); D — Stratman 14 pass from Flack (Elliot kick); P — Kuntz 96 kickoff return (Zamora run); P — Woods 4 run (McLean run); P — Charlesworth fumble recovery in end zone (run failed); D — Stratman 7 pass from Flack (Mathison pass from Flack)
