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Unbeaten and top-ranked West High's Cook Inlet Conference football game at winless Dimond on Wednesday night was everything it wasn't cracked up to be -- namely, close.
Don't be deceived by the digits: West 33, Dimond 9.That score was as misleading as a magician's moves - the Eagles led 13-9 with less than five minutes to play at Alumni Field.Yet, fittingly, the tipping point hinged on a trick play of sorts that stemmed from a short interaction between head coach and player that wasn't exactly what it seemed.With West facing fourth-and-4 on its own 30 and clinging to that 13-9 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Eagles head coach Tim Davis instructed David Solomona to punt. Sort of.Davis' actual words: "Punt it.''Davis' body language: "Fake it.''"He said, 'Punt it,' and kind of looked at me,'' Solomona said, mimicking Davis' wide-eyed nod. "I was like, 'OK, coach, I got you.' ''Solomona raced through the middle of the line for a 16-yard gain. That earned the Eagles (7-0, 6-0 CIC) a first down and kick-started a 10-play, 76-yard drive Jacob Orr capped with a 7-yard touchdown run to expand the lead to 20-9."There was room,'' Solomona said of his fourth-down dash. "There was good blocking and I just took the hole that was there.''Davis said he figured the time was right to take a chance."If we do it (successfully), we put them away,'' Davis said of the fake punt. "And the way the defense was playing, I was confident.''West padded its advantage after Orr's touchdown with a 50-yard strike from Justin Kauffman to J'Vonte Buster with 2:07 remaining and Orr's 69-yard interception return with 1:05 left. Buster, lined up to the left, ran a slant pattern, stretched to snag Kauffman's bullet in stride and bolted through the secondary. Orr jumped a Dimond route, picked Ahmad Nasir's pass in full stride and blazed untouched to the end zone.All that helped wipe away what for most of the game was an unusually sloppy performance by West on an unusual night. The game was played in mid-week instead of the traditional Friday or Saturday because of an Anchorage School District policy barring extracurricular events on certain days. Sundown on Friday is the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana, hence the Wednesday tilt.Even though West's Roscoe Wyche rocketed 62 yards for a touchdown on the fourth play of scrimmage and Kauffman hooked up with Dahmir Bell for a 21-yard touchdown strike later in the quarter, the Eagles suffered stumbles aplenty.Three minutes into the second quarter, West already had committed seven penalties for 60 yards of backtracking.And Nasir burned them for a 60-yard touchdown run between West's two scores, running the option to the left, veering to the middle and prospering."It was pretty cool,'' Nasir said. "I got by one guy and I thought, "I'm gone.' ''Kyle Dodson's 27-yard field goal with about nine minutes left in the game trimmed West's lead to 13-9.After that, the Eagles finally found their groove."We came out flat in the first half,'' Solomona said. "In the second half, we regained our composure.''For Dimond (0-7, 0-6 CIC), the loss presented another taste of what might have been."We made some mistakes in the red zone - it's those little mistakes,'' Nasir said. "At 7-0, West doesn't make those mistakes."They definitely overlooked us. We came out ready to play. We just got after it. We just couldn't finish it - again.''West, meanwhile, got an in-game test of its practice habits. When the Eagles make mistakes in practice - say, line up wrong for a play or go on the wrong snap count on a conditioning drill - they start the play or the drill over again."We've built in overcoming obstacles in our practices,'' Davis said. "We were able to overcome obstacles and translate it onto the field."It was a wake-up call. We escaped this week. But like we keep telling them, 'It's not what happens to you, it's how you react to what happens.' ''