Box Elder’s football team made it into the semifinal round of 6-man playoffs after beating D-G-S-G, (74-64) over the weekend. New Media Broadcasters broke the track meet down with head coach Thomas Dilworth and he again expressed praise for his offense being able to put the team in winning situations until the final seconds ticked off the clock.
“I think we expected (D-G-S-G) to come out in a little bit of that spread offense,” Dilworth said. “I think the thing that kind of set us up was in that third quarter, we came out and they started in their power formation and we had really practiced for that.”
“We got a couple of stops, jumped out to a lead, and then we got comfortable and stopped playing defense that fourth quarter,” Dilworth continued. “And then (we) kind of just got by by the skin of our teeth.”
“I think if it would have been another few minutes, we might have been in trouble,” Dilworth said.
The shift now focuses to Hot Springs, a team that has been blowing out its opponents lately, putting up 78 points on Custer-Hysham-Melstone and then holding Highwood to just eight total points. Dilworth has gotten word of mouth as to what the Savage Heat present and said his boys will be ready.
“I hadn’t looked far in the bracket past D-G-S-G,” Dilworth said. “I mean, I talked to a few coaches who had played (Hot Springs).”
“(Hot Springs) played them here in Big Sandy and talked to (Pioneers coach Larry Jappe) a little bit,” Dilworth continued. “I’ve just been watching film.”
“To me, (Hot Springs looks) a lot similar to D-G-S-G. They’re pretty similar in their style and they open it up,” Dilworth said. “They do have a lot of different formations that you’ve got to be ready for. We’ll do our homework, studying film this week and just have the kids really prepared for whatever they come out in and just do our best to match it.”
Dilworth and company will host the final home game of the season when the (9-0) Bears take on (9-3) Hot Springs, the No. 2 seed out of the west. Kickoff is at 1pm on Saturday from Box Elder with the winner playing either in Bridger or Centerville for the championship next week.
