Devils reestablish dominance over Blair

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006

Last season marked the first time in 40 years that Blair defeated Springbrook on the football field, Adou Kouadio did his part to make sure it didn’t happen again this season.

Kouadio ran for three touchdowns as Springbrook rolled to a 28-0 victory over rival Blair.

Springbrook had dominated the all-time series up until last season, and the Blue Devils’ players did not forget about last year’s 12-7 defeat.

‘‘It was in our heads all week,” said Kouadio, a senior. ‘‘We wanted to start the streak over again. We came ready to play.”

The victory evened Springbrook’s record up at 1-1, which is crucial as they head into a difficult stretch of the season, starting with a game against Einstein on Thursday. The Blue Devils were shut out, 33-0, by Sherwood in week one.

‘‘We thought it was a pretty big game,” said Springbrook coach Rob Wendel. ‘‘We have huge games [coming up].”

The loss dropped Blair to 0-2 on the year, but head coach Jeff Seals is not ready to panic this early in the season. While two losses to start the season could make it difficult to qualify for the playoffs, Seals said Blair is not looking past its next game.

‘‘Our expectation was to take one game at a time,” he said. ‘‘Everybody gets better every year and everybody is better this year.”

Springbrook opened the scoring in the first quarter when Kouadio reached the end zone from two yards out on a second-and-goal play. A missed extra point kept the score at 6-0 with under two minutes to go in the opening quarter.

After taking over on downs on their own 47-yard line, Springbrook marched down the field on five plays, culminating in another touchdown run by Kouadio, this one from the 1-yard line. Another missed extra point kept the score at 12-0 with just under nine minutes remaining in the half.

‘‘We were just fired up about the last week’s lost, about getting shut out, so we had to put some points on the board fast,” said Kouadio.

Springbrook would get on the board one more time before the end of the half when sophomore quarterback Phoenix Bulter-Poole connected with senior Dom Omatade on a 43-yard pass play. A short run by junior Carlo Galeano after a pass-interference penalty on the two-point conversation attempt made the score 20-0.

The score would remain that way until the third quarter, when Kouadio would reach the end zone again on a 5-yard touchdown run. He added the two-point conversation to close out the scoring at 28-0.

The play was setup when Blair lined up to punt, but fumbled on their own 1-yard line.

Despite the historical win by Blair last year, both coaches downplayed the significance the game had on this year’s contest.

‘‘A loss is a loss,” said Seals. ‘‘I don’t care how you lose, if you lose, it doesn’t make a difference.”

‘‘We talked about last year a little bit,” said Wendel. ‘‘But, we got new players, they got new players. It’s a new season.”

Blair also has a short week to prepare for their next game at Quince Orchard on Thursday.

Springbrook does not have much time to savor its victory, also with a short week to prepare for Einstein.

‘‘I’m thinking about Einstein now ... you gotta win them all,” said Kouadio. ‘‘We expect them to come out, play hard, and give us their best game.”