Dukes Start Season With A Win

Dukes Start Season With A Win
By David Gravely

The Dublin Middle School Dukes football team started their 2011 season off with a convincing 20-0 win over Scott Memorial Middle School last week, giving new Head Coach Ward Angle his first win as they head into this weeks game against Blacksburg Middle School.

The Dukes put together 379 total yards of offense in the contest, with 317 coming on the ground and 62 in the air. Kevin Smith lead the charge with 98 yards on 6 carries while scoring two touchdowns. Alex Ramsey added 12 carries for 95 yards, scoring a touchdown and a two point conversion. Elliot Brewster had 5 carries for 64 yards to round out the top three. Chase Huff, Hunter Thomas, Dontay Brown, and Issac Poe also each had productive days carrying the ball for Dublin.

On the other side of the ball, the Dukes "lights out" defense held Scott Memorial to only 53 yards of total offense, while also recovering two fumbles. "We want our offense to be able to move the ball and score, but we know that if we keep the other team from scoring we can never lose" said Coach Angle. "I think our whole team matured to another level on Thursday, but we will need to step things up even more if we want to compete against Blacksburg. They have a very strong team, and they have tons of coaching experience." Blacksburg is coming off of a 32-18 win over Giles last week.

"We made some mental mistakes and we'll need to eliminate those to reach our goals that we have set for the season" said Angle. "Our whole team will need to be more physical across the board to play the type of football we are capable of."

The Dukes face Blacksburg this Thursday, Sept 1, at 5:30 at Blacksburg High School field.