The Sand Devils football team looked sharp in their 40-7 victory over the Blue Ridge Yellow Jackets on Friday.
Head football coach Mitchell Stephens’ only complaint about his team’s performance is that it took his offense longer than he liked to catch fire.
The Sand Devils defense looked good throughout the game. Watching the Yellow Jackets run the ball into the Sand Devils defensive line was like watching a boat repeatedly crash against the rocks. The defense prevented the Yellow Jackets from getting a single first down in the first half of the game, and held them to just four first downs and seven points in the second half.
It was their defense that got things started for the Sand Devils when they recovered a fumble on the Yellow Jackets 35-yard line.
Sand Devils quarterback Jacob Doyle advanced the ball to the six-yard line on two carries, and three plays after that, Gabe Gomez ran it in for the touchdown. The point after was not successful.
The Sand Devils offense scored again on its next possession on a pass to wide receiver Brandon James. After another failed PAT, they led 12-0 with nine minutes left in the second quarter.

The score remained 12-0 at halftime.
The Yellow Jackets scored their only touchdown of the game during the opening minutes of the second half, which came on a 89-yard run by their quarterback Jimmy Benthin after he broke free around the left side.
The Sand Devils offense caught fire after that, scoring touchdowns on their next four possessions, the first of which was a 70-yard reception from wide receiver Dainian Bitsinnie.
They needed just three plays to score on the next possession, which came on 45-yard run from running back Christian White. This time, the Sand Devils were successful on the PAT attempt, when a pass from Doyle into the end zone bounced between three players before it ended up in the arms of offensive lineman Levi Telshaw.
Running back Hayden Gracia scored the next touchdown on a 20-yard run up the middle, which was followed by a successful pass to Kimball Begay for two points on the PAT.
Doyle scored the game’s final touchdown on the  next possession after faking a handoff to the right and scampering around the left side untouched nine yards into the end zone.
The final score was Sand Devils 40, Yellow Jackets 7.
“We played well tonight,” said Coach Stephens. “We had big contributions from all our players. Kele Meredith ran well for us tonight and gave us a lot of yards but didn’t get into the end zone. He’ll get there next game.”
Doyle was 9 of 15 passing for 120 yards with two touchdowns. He also ran 21 times for an additional 140 yards and another touchdown. Christian Penrod had three receptions for 18 yards. Dainian Bitsinnie had one reception for 68 yards and one touchdown.
Brandon James had one reception for 17 yards and one touchdown. Levi Telshaw had one reception for three yards and two points.
Kele Meredith had 16 carries for 79 yards. Hayden Gracia had seven carries for 23 yards and one touchdown. Gabe Gomez had one carry for two yards and one touchdown. Christian White had one carry for 25 yards and one touchdown.
The Sand Devils travel to Flagstaff this Friday to challenge the Coconino Panthers.