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SportsSaturday, October 21, 2006 12:56 AM CDT

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BHS overcomes mistakes to beat Eisenhower

By Douglas Hamm
dhamm@pantagraph.com

BLOOMINGTON -- Bloomington High School senior wide receiver/defensive back Josh Mitchell was smiling Friday night even though his ears were still burning.

“Coach (Rigo Schmelzer) is already ripping into us about all the turnovers, so it’s going to be a tough week of practice but we’ll be ready for it,” Mitchell said. “We made a lot of mistakes and that hurt us a lot, but for the most part we played pretty good.”

Schmelzer agreed with Mitchell’s assessment after the Purple Raiders overcame four turnovers and a determined Decatur Eisenhower team to claim a 34-14 Big 12 Conference victory on Senior Night at Fred Carlton Field.

BHS, ranked No. 9 in Class 6A, improved to 8-1 overall and in the Big 12 with its seventh straight win. The Raiders will most likely earn a first-round home game in next week’s playoffs, but they won’t know for sure until the pairings are announced tonight.

“The most important thing is we’re healthy and we’re looking forward to the draw (tonight) and next weekend’s ballgame,” Schmelzer said.

BHS sophomore running back Darrelynn Dunn got healthy at Eisenhower’s expense, rushing for 182 yards and two touchdowns on only 17 carries. Dunn had only two attempts in the second half as Schmelzer went to his bench early.

“(Dunn) is a solid runner and a strong young man,” Schmelzer said. “He has good vision and he’s shifty in his top gear. He can move through the line at a pretty good clip and at 180 pounds, that’s a tough running back.”

The Raiders built a 20-0 halftime lead behind a 4-yard touchdown run by quarterback Stephen Esch and scoring runs of 3 and 23 yards by Dunn.

Eisenhower (1-8, 1-8) gave BHS a scare by opening the third quarter with an eight-play, 80-yard scoring drive capped by Quez Patterson’s 10-yard run.

Mitchell answered immediately by returning the ensuing kickoff 74 yards for a momentum-swinging TD that pushed BHS’ lead back to 27-7.

“It was great blocking,” Mitchell said. “David Cook and Darrelynn Dunn both made a huge block and that sprung me. I just made a cut and their kicker couldn’t get me.”

Defensive line standout Rick Kwitkowski’s 7-yard TD run with 2:23 remaining completed BHS’ scoring. The Raiders finished with 266 yards on the ground while outgaining Eisenhower 348-236 overall. Esch was 6 of 13 for 55 yards.

“I wish we would have executed a little bit better, but our running game looked solid and the defense played well,” Schmelzer said. “If we stay with the run we would have been fine, but I wanted to experiment with some things.

“Quite honestly you saw some good skill from Eisenhower. Those kids can jump and they’re willing to go get the ball. Their quarterback (Todd Fabley) was elusive and he got away from what appeared to be a couple of sacks. Those kids didn’t roll over and that’s a credit to them.”

Eisenhower used some trickery to get its final TD — a 39-yard pass from slot back Clint Lee to Landon Hines with 22 seconds left. Fabley was 5 of 15 for 94 yards.

“We had some chances early but we hurt ourselves with penalties and that’s part of the reason why we’re 1-8,” said first-year Eisenhower coach Don Flowers. “But the last three or four weeks we’ve gotten better every week and become competitive.

“You always worry when you come in to play a good team that’s going to the playoffs and has the record they have if your kids are going to lay down and give up or play hard. Our kids played hard, and I’m proud of them for that.”