After getting shutout on its first game of the season, the Battle Mountain High School football team returned the favor in a big way, shutting out Silver Stage 46-0 this past Saturday afternoon in Silver Springs.
“This was a good test for us,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala. “We came off a hard loss last week and have a big game next week so for the kids to be focused on this game was a good sign of their focus.”
Battle Mountain received the opening kickoff but quickly the gave the ball up on a 3-and-out to Silver Stage. The Longhorns got the ball right back as the Nighthawks turned the ball over on downs following a bad snap on their punt. Seven plays later, Brice Domagala ran it in to the end zone from six yards out for the first touchdown of the day. Terrance Fetterly ran in the conversion. 8-0
Moments later, Anthony Molina intercepted the Silver Stage quarterback on first down giving the ball back to the Longhorns. After three consecutive runs, Domagala connected with Fetterly on a 15-yard touchdown. The extra point was missed and Battle Mountain led 14-0.
After holding Silver Stage to a 3-and-out, it took just 3 plays for Battle Mountain to score again, as Fetterly raced in from 29 yards out. Domagala hit Jr. Vazquez for the 2-point pass to give the Longhorns a 22-0 lead after a quarter of play.
After forcing another 3-and-out, the Battle Mountain offense took only one play to score, as D.J. Wahl scored his first high school touchdown on a 25-yard run behind some great blocking by the offensive line of Asher Bundrock, Ben George, Aydan Samuelson, Dante Fratto, Ernesto Leon and Cannyn Bundy. Domagala ran in the 2-point try making the score 30-0.
“We suited up 15 players today and every one of them had an impact on the outcome of this game,” added the coach.
On the next Silver Stage possession, the Longhorn defensive tackles (Max Villanueva and Dalton Shake) put heavy pressure on the Nighthawks quarterback and forcing an errant pass that was intercepted by Molina.
After mixing the run and pass game, Wahl scored again this time from two yards out. Wahl added the 2-point run making the score 38-0.
“Our offensive line blocked very well today,” Domagala said. “This group just gets better every week. We moved some positions around this week and it paid off. Dante had a great game coming back from a game one injury. It was an early game today and I think he was looking for breakfast because he laid pancakes all over the field.”
Trying to speed things up on their next possession, Silver Stage attempted to go outside with a screen pass but was intercepted by Domagala who returned it to the 5-yard line.
However, the Longhorns were unable to score as they fumbled the ball on second down to end the half.
The second half was played with a running clock and Silver Stage came out strong in the third quarter, as the put together a six-play drive that came to an end when Cannyn Bundy recovered a fumble.
Domagala was intercepted on the ensuing possession, but Vazquez got the ball back with an interception of his own.
Battle Mountain took possession with 1:45 left in the third quarter and never gave the ball back as they score on the final play when Domagala found Fetterly once more for a 23-yard TD pass. Fetterly ran in the try making the final score 46-0.
Battle Mountain is back home on Friday to host Yerington at 7 p.m.
