It was a Friday evening and our Hemet High students had plenty to do. With the play Romeo and Juliet in production and a CIF football game at the stadium, fans got their pick and money’s worth.
At the stadium, the Colton Yellowjackets came into town to prove themselves, and on the second play from scrimmage made a statement with a 63 yard burst to score within the first 30 seconds of the game. The Bulldogs took the first punch, figured it out, and closed down the option attack of Colton.
For the Bulldogs, the players were the same but tonight, the next man up was making their mark. Hemet responded in kind in the first quarter on a jet sweep with quarterback Nick Thornburg handing off the ball to Dawson Powers who took it around the right side, hit the edge and didn’t stop until pay dirt 86 yards later as he put distance between himself and the defenders. The extra point was blocked so Hemet was still down 7-6
The Bulldogs stiffened up on defense as they forced the Yellowjackets to punt and our offense was doing enough to give us opportunities. Colton literally took the ball away on one play and the defense shut them down.
Tyler Richardson, who played both ways for Hemet, started to exude his brute force defensively and offensively. Offensively Richardson took a handoff and ran right up the middle for a 35 yard touchdown. On other drives, he was the lead Dog as he cleared a path for our runners. Defensively he made the pads pop as he hit the Yellowjackets hard. “He’s our heart,” Bulldogs coach Jason Thornburg said of Richardson. “He is just a football player. Both sides of the ball. He made some great blocks tonight.”
Other Bulldogs were making big plays also. Powers had another phenomenal catch from Jeremiah Graves to help set up one score. Travis Morgan made an acrobatic catch going up high and plucking the ball out of the air while being hit low maintaining possession to keep a drive alive.
The Bulldogs put up 15 point in the second quarter to lead at halftime 21 to 14. When Colton came back with a scoring drive in the third, Hemet responded to the bell three times, scoring 21 unanswered points to go up 42 to 21. On the Bulldogs last score and kickoff, Colton ran back a return to make the score closer but ended the game 42-28.
Next up for Hemet is another home game, this time hosting the Vaqueros of Irvine on Friday, November 9th at 7:00 p.m. (Agreed to by both schools on 11/5/18)
Photos by Yearbook students, John Hill, Advisor
Video by Broadcasting students for our Dialy Bulletin at www.hemethigh.com