DOLORES – It’ll be hard to wipe the smile off the faces of the Dolores football players all week.
For good reason – the Bears picked up their second win of the young campaign, overpowering Soroco 30-20 in a game in which the final score didn’t fully reflect Dolores’ dominance.
For the first time since 2018, the Bears have multiple wins in a season, and for the first time since 2006, Dolores sits at 2-0.
Under the guidance of second-year head coach Joseph Gonzales, DHS has its largest roster in years, and the Bears used their depth to wear down the visiting Rams under the warm afternoon weather.
Bear senior Ty Gaddis scored a pair of touchdowns, joining classmates Zach Taylor and Brody Gottman in finding the end zone to propel Dolores to a 30-6 lead late in the third quarter, before the visiting Rams made a late surge to make the home crowd sweat out the final seconds.
Soroco (1-2) scored first on a pick-six from Tanner Cole-Wheeler midway through the first quarter, but the Bears made an immediate response, driving downfield to Ram territory. From there, junior quarterback Tray Traweek connected with Gaddis on a 42-yard strike to knot the score a six-all.
“We’d been talking about in practice this past week,” said Traweek of the first Dolores touchdown, “we were hoping to catch them off guard, and I knew that Ty would be able to beat his defender.”
Gaddis added a 6-yard burst late in the second quarter, followed by a 20-yard fumble recovery from Gottman to expand the lead to 22-6 right before the intermission.
“The second quarter was a mood-changer for the team,” added Gaddis, “and it got the game going in the direction we needed it to go.”
Dolores’ defense swarmed all afternoon, making life difficult for the two different quarterbacks that Soroco lined up. Senior Ethin Williford took charge for the Bears secondary, collecting an interception and piling up stops for the Bear defense.
“It was incredible, what we pulled off today,” said Williford after the win, “I’m proud of each of our guys – we were swarm tackling all day.”
Assistant coach Travis Rantz took the role of interim head coach for the contest with Gonzales out of town, and the Bears dialed up plenty of big plays to sophomore Michael Rantz, as well as senior Zach Taylor, whose 4-yard score late in the third quarter appeared to put the game out of reach.
Sophomores TJ Adie and Deven Winter, alongside freshman Darren Hicks enjoyed big games for the Bears, while junior Micah Vrtatko helped the offensive line to provide time for Traweek to beat the Rams with his arm and his legs.
Soroco scored twice in the final five minutes to create some nervy moments for a strong home crowd, but as the clock hit triple-zeroes, the Bears celebrated with a joy that will carry long into the upcoming week.
“Fundamentally, we saw continuous improvement,” said interim coach Travis Rantz, “the kids are stoked to win at home for the first time in six years, so it’s awesome for them and for the community.”
“We didn’t dwell on the mental mistakes,” added Rantz. “The kids stuck to their assignments, we swarmed the ball – it was great to see their hard work pay off.”
“This senior group has been working so hard since our freshman year,” said Williford, “so these past two wins have meant everything to us.”
Dolores now faces back-to-back road games against Rangely (Sept. 15) and Plateau Valley (Sept. 23), looking to continue their success against the eight-man Northwest League. The Bears return home for Homecoming weekend on Sept. 29 for a 7 p.m. kickoff, when they face Norwood.
“This is for the community, as much as anything,” said Traweek, “going into the season, we had the mentality that no one believes in us – so we’re going out there knowing that the ones who believe are the guys right next you.”
“It’s a great start to the season,” added Gaddis, “now we want to keep it up.”
