Husky football falls short against Bishop; Team gears up for first away game

The Mammoth Huskies football team and cross town rival the Bishop Broncos went head to head last Friday, Sept. 13 with a huge crowd in attendance at Mammoth at Gault-McClure Stadium.

The play of the game belonged to the Huskies Special Teams and Steven Orrick’s lightning strike 99 kick-off return that really fired the Huskies up. The Huskies played well despite a few costly errors against a bigger but not faster or quicker Bishop Bronco team.  Alex Muller and Matt Graef spearheaded a solid Huskies defensive showing despite the score. The Huskies continued to penetrate the opposition’s offensive front line again this week.

The Broncos did a great job disguising the ball carrier and the Huskies did an amazing job figuring out who had the ball as they made many tackles in the Bronco backfield for losses. Mueller led Husky tackles with 19, Graef had 16 and Dennis Orrick had 12. #85 Ricky Cuellar got another interception to go with the one he got against Rosamond. Ricky’s kicking has really helped the Huskies this season.

The Broncos frontline is substantially bigger than the Huskies on both sides of the ball causing the Huskies problems in the red zone all night. However, the Huskies were able to move the ball in the air and on the ground. The O Line did a good job holding off Bronco pass rushers long enough for Underkoffler to complete passes but the Huskies lack a heavy jumbo package needed to get the job done against Bishop in the short field. Huskies quaterback Lucas Underkoffler had success passing for 140 yards and one touchdown when he hit Dennis Orrick for a score. Alex Mueller was the Huskies leading receiver and Dennis Orrick was the Huskies leading rusher.  The Huskies were able to generate an impressive 283 total yards of offense to Bishop’s 362.

The Huskies went 1-1 in thier preseason. Things went the Huskies way in game 1 against Rosamond. It’s good to win the first game and get the feeling, but to get better you need a tough opponent. The game the Broncos gave Mammoth did the most to help get the Huskies ready to start league. Desert-Mountain League play begins for the Huskies Friday, Sept. 20 at Desert (Edwards AFB). Desert is ranked #2 going into the season and the Huskies are ranked #6. Desert is 1-1 in DML play so far this season with a win over Vasquez and a loss to #1 ranked Silver Valley.