Northwest rolls through Dodge

Defending the pass is easy when a defense can drop eight back in coverage and rely on its three defensive linemen to apply the pressure.

Such was the luxury Andres Ronquillo, Branden Ho, and Duall Watson presented Northwest on Friday night against Dodge City and its quarterback, Caden Walters, who was averaging right at 300 yards throwing per game.

The three linemen consistently beat their blocks to make Walters uncomfortable in the pocket and that was all the rest of Northwest’s defense needed in a 61-14 throttling. Walters finished with 109 yards on 16 of 38 throwing that included two interceptions.

It was the first Class 6A-District 8 game for Northwest (6-1) and Dodge City (4-3).

“I can’t say enough about what those guys up front did for us tonight,” Northwest coach Steve Martin said. “It’s a lot of fun to see them dominate the line of scrimmage like that.”

Martin was prepared to blitz and leave his defensive backs on an island, but never had to.

Instead, 12 of the 17 runs by Walters either lost yardage or went for no gain largely because of the presence of Ronquillo, Ho, and Watson.

Third down, which Dodge City failed to convert 13 of 15 times, was nothing more than a mirage of hope for the Red Demons. More often than not, the best Walters could do was heave a hopeful deep ball down the sidelines that was inevitably double-covered by Northwest.

At least in last week’s loss, 64-50 to Hays, Dodge City’s offense was competitive. But this, this was an annihilation and it began at the line of scrimmage.

“Our coach taught us how to use our hands and how to push and pull,” Ronquillo said. “We’re pretty good at getting off blocks. We just played Grizzly football tonight.”

The 54 points Northwest’s offense rolled up in the first half were no doubt impressive, but it was an instance of an opportunistic side that was capitalizing on a thoroughly dominant performance by the defense.

The best indicator of that was Northwest’s average starting field position for its 16 drives, which was midfield. Eight of those drives began in Dodge City territory.

By halftime, Northwest had transformed what was supposed to be a competitive game into a dismantling. The score was 54-7 and Northwest’s offense was averaging a first down on every snap, which translated to 373 total yards.

“If we’re focused,” Martin said, “then you have to worry about us.”

KeShaun McGaugh led the way with his 199-yard performance and teamed with quarterback K’Veion Richard (62 yards) and backup tailback Jahlyl Rounds (43 yards) to score seven touchdowns on the ground.

It didn’t matter if they ran behind Geoffrey Lodge and Colton Tucker to the left, Gage Fletcher and Nathaniel Listerman to the right, or Matt Washee up the middle, Northwest gashed its way to an 8.9 yard-per-carry average in the first half.

That set Richard up for a breakout performance throwing, as he completed 10 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns. Receiver Shane Brock caught five passes for 106 yards and a touchdown.

“When we run the ball like that, people have to put somebody else in the box,” Martin said. “K’Veion Richard showed that he can throw the ball tonight and that we have a ton of receivers who can catch and score after they catch it.

“We’re in a good situation right now.”

Northwest boasts tremendous athletes on both sides of the ball, evident by big play after big play made against Dodge City, but it was clear how they were making those plays Friday.

“It was all about our line tonight, they blocked their tails off,” Richard said. “I’m going to have to take them out to lunch or something.”

This story was originally published October 18, 2014 at 12:59 AM with the headline "Northwest rolls through Dodge."