Bulldogs Beat Eagles But Lose Key Player To Injury

By BOB SNELL

The Progress

The Virgin Valley High School football team came away with a win Friday night in Boulder City to remain unbeaten on the season. But the victory came at a high price.

The Bulldogs survived four turnovers and managed to hold on to defeat the host Eagles, 34-28. Virgin Valley improved to 4-0 with the win, but lost star runningback and linebacker Eathan Workman to a broken collarbone suffered late in the third quarter.

“Peanut (Workman) is the heart and soul of our team,” VVHS head coach Matt Woods said. “No one works as hard, or plays as hard, as him. He’s a football player.”

The initial diagnosis with a broken collarbone is being out anywhere from 8-10 weeks.
“It just makes me sick to my stomach knowing how hard he’s worked and how bad he wants to play football,” Woods said.

The Bulldogs appeared to be in great shape after Workman ran 14 yards for a touchdown to give Virgin Valley a 34-14 advantage late in the third quarter.

The turnover bug would bite Virgin Valley hard, however, as the Bulldogs fumbled the ball away on three consecutive plays leading to two Boulder City touchdowns and allowing the Eagles to creep within 34-28 midway through the final quarter of play.

After holding Virgin Valley on fourth down, the Eagles, which fell to 2-2 on the season, took over on their own 32-yard line with a chance to tie or take the lead. The Bulldog defense came up big, however, forcing a three-and-out, thanks to a sack by Benson Leavitt, forcing the Eagles to punt.

Virgin Valley was able to run out the final 90 seconds on the clock with Kellen Duggan picking up a key first down with a nine-yard run on third-and-five.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we somehow found a way to get it done,” Woods said. “We kept putting our defense in a bad spot with all the turnovers. We also didn’t make the plays when they were there to make. It’s not good to turn the ball over four times. We have to correct that.”

The Bulldogs jumped in front 16-0 on a one-yard TD run by Workman and a seven-yard scoring pass from quarterback Gavin Brown to Jared Jensen.

After the Eagles cut the margin to 16-7, Virgin Valley used two big scoring plays to take a 28-7 lead into the halftime break.

Brown, who completed 15 of 20 passes for 300 yards, completed a screen pass to Leavitt who raced 64 yards for a touchdown.

The two would hook up again on the final play of the half when Brown faked a handoff and found Leavitt wide open behind the secondary for a 66-yard scoring play.

Leavitt had four catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns while also recording two sacks on defense.
“Benson had a really good game,” Woods said. “We’re going to need him to step up like that.”
Workman had nine carries for 70 yards and two scores, plus a sack, before going down. He becomes the fourth two-way player the Bulldogs have lost to injuries in the last three weeks.

Duggan, who rushed for 65 yards on 16 carries, will look to fill the void in the backfield with Workman out indefinitely.

The Bulldogs will be at home this Friday against SLAM (3-2) Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.