Backfield big Broncos’ win
Published 12:00 am Friday, November 5, 2004
It wasn’t quite a shutout, but it was good enough for the city championship.
The Broncos surrendered just their fourth touchdown of the season Thursday night and rolled to a 16-6 win over the Dolphins to win the first Selma Parks and Recreation Department 8-10-year-olds Football League city champiosnhip at Memorial Stadium.
The Broncos (9-1) came in looking for their eighth shutout of the season. Instead, they avenged their only loss when they were beaten by the Dolphins earlier in the season.
As good as the Broncos’ defense has been this season, it may just have been a defensive change that led this team to the title.
After the Broncos’ original starting backfield showed little spunk earlier in the season, coach Rod West Sr. decided to switch DeMarquis Lumpkin and Curtis McNeil from defense to running back.
“It was the best move I could make,” West said. “I knew they were both good athletes. They came up with some big plays for us tonight.”
Quarterback Quintravis Johnson scored both Broncos’ touchdowns, but key runs by
Lumpkin and McNeil helped set up those scores.
Lumpkin’s 14-yard run to the Dolphins’ 29 on second-and-long kept the Broncos’ opening drive alive. He followed that four plays later with a 5-yard run to the 11.
That set up Johnson’s 11-yard touchdown run that got the scoring started. Johnson added the two-point conversion and the Broncos led 8-0 with 41 seconds left in the opening period.
Johnson opened the Broncos’ next drive with a 17-yard pass to McNeil to the Broncos’ 47. While they failed to score on the drive, the Broncos kept the ball away from the Dolphins for the final 5:36 of the first half.
However, the Dolphins finally got on the board in the third quarter when quarterback Rodney Ellis scampered around the left end for a 38-yard touchdown run that made it an 8-6 game. The Dolphins failed on the two-point try.
The Broncos followed with an 11-play, 49 drive to put the game away.
Johnson highlighted the drive with five consecutive runs that moved the Broncos to the Dolphins’ 16.
The Dolphins’ defense, however, came through with back-to-back sacks to push the Broncos back to the 24.
One play later, however, Lumpkin outran the defense to the Dolphins’ 1, setting up a quarterback sneak by Johnson that increaded the Broncoss lead to 16-6 with less than two minutes to go. Johnson also ran in the two-point conversion.
Meanwhile, the Broncos’ quest for their seventh shutout of the season fell short, but still was filled with sparkling plays.
The Broncos registered four quarterback sacks and a total of nine tackles for a loss against the Dolphins. The team surrendered just 26 points all season.