Screen pass beneficial for Foothill in shootout victory over Diamondbacks

Foothill was searching for anything to get them back on track offensively Friday against Desert Oasis.
It didn’t take them long to find it.

Implementing a series of screen passes, Drew Doxtator connected with Rickey Dixon on a pair of long touchdowns, and the host Falcons rallied to outgun the visiting Diamondbacks 40-31.

Doxtator, who connected on 22 of 41 passes for 417 yards and five touchdowns, said he was very happy with the way everyone executed their jobs — especially on the key screen passes.

“We had a few pretty good ones,” Doxtator said. “We have a stud for a running back, and the O-line did great too, especially on screens.”

Foothill set the tone early, as Dixon opened the scoring by hauling in a screen pass from Doxtator and rushing 67 yards to the endzone with 5:56 left in the first quarter.

“I think it was a big thing the way the four (from Desert Oasis) were rushing on the front line,” said Dixon, who had 24 carries for 116 yards and a score.

He also grabbed six receptions for 163 yards, including touchdowns of 67, 5 and 51 yards.

“We just took control of the situation,” Dixon added.

After leading 14-6 at halftime, Foothill had to retake control in the third quarter.

Desert Oasis’ Kurtis Brooks ran 69 yards on the second play of the third quarter. After a bad snap by Foothill, which led to a turnover inside the 5-yard line, Herman Smith scored on a 4-yard run to give the Diamondbacks their first lead at 18-14.

“(Desert Oasis) came out ready to play in the second half,” Doxtator said.

Doxtator, however, settled in after that, driving the Falcons 58 yards in seven plays, capping the drive off with a short 5-yard screen pass to Dixon to put Foothill ahead 21-18.

Then on the second play of the fourth quarter, Doxtator tossed a pass to Dixon behind the line of scrimmage again. This time Dixon took the screen pass and raced 51 yards for a score to push the lead to 27-18.

Marvin Duty had a 70-yard kickoff return on the ensuing play to keep the Diamondbacks in the game, but Doxtator tossed a 26-yard TD pass to Jordan Primo with 6:10 left, pushing the Falcon lead to 33-25.

“We were just trying to get better as a team, and get better as football players,” said Doxtator of the Falcons first victory of the season. “This is a step in the right direction.”