Cream of the crop
Joey Hislop - 6/28/2009
Mission accomplished. In just their second year in existence, the Logan Stampede are Rocky Mountain Football League AA-Division champions after proving too much for  

   Valley Desperados, taking home the trophy with a 27-13 win Saturday night .

   Dripping with Gatorade and basking in the feeling of having led his team to the top of the AA-Division mountain, Stampede head coach Bracken Atkinson explained that the pressure of winning the title was much more manageable   than the pressure of going undefeated.

   “It’s unreal. People have no idea,” Atkinson said of maintaining a perfect record. “Everybody has talked to us about being overrated because we haven’t been able to put teams away that we should have, but there’s so much internal pressure. It just starts building up and building up, and you’re so afraid to lose that you almost make more mistakes.

   “Going for a championship was easier than going for the undefeated season. That was a lot more pressure than a championship.”

   The Stampede established their dominance early on in the game, taking the ball 80 yards on what was a pair of possessions that seemed like one big drive.

   Having made it to the Utah Valley 41 yard line, Logan quarterback Mike Jenkins had his pass to do-it-all back Dave Williams picked off, giving the   ball to the Desperados at the Utah Valley 43.

   However, on the very next play, Brandon Carlisle returned the favor, intercepting Brock   Adamson’s pass to Kenton Gulley, allowing the Stampede to start over on the Desperados’ 44.        Five plays later, Jenkins found Justin McDermeit from 12 yards out for the first score of the game. Jenkins would end the night having gone 25-for-41 with 268 passing yards and a touchdown.

   Logan would strike again in the second quarter when a 57-yard drive was capped off with a Williams 5-yard scamper. The score was set up by a 37-yard Jenkins-to-Ted Stokes pass.

   Williams also had runs of eight and seven yards on the drive, ending the night with 27 rushing yards (11 carries) and 32 receiving yards (six catches).

   Though Williams would have a pair of scores on the ground, he admits the Desperados did a decent job of containing the Stampede run.

   “The running game went all right,” Williams said. “(Utah Valley) is a good team. They have a great run-stop defense. We just tried to do our best.

   “Shout-out to my O-linemen again. They played their hearts out. I got some good runs thanks to them.”

   Though Jenkins had a few mistakes throwing the ball — something that has been somewhat uncharacteristic of the 77-percent passer — it was the Logan passing game that gave   the Desperados the most fits.

   Stampede leading receiver Jesse Yarger was named the game’s Most Valuable Player, amassing 93 yards on nine catches, several of which were drive savers.

   As Jenkins was perhaps under more pocket pressure from the Desperados than he had been in most of his games this season, Yarger attributed his own success to Jenkins’ cool head.

   “Jenkins threw the ball right on the money. It was always hitting me right between the   numbers all season long, not just this game,” Yarger said. “He was really able to thrive under pressure, and that’s what really what won the game for us.”

   In comparison to last week’s 17-14 fourthquarter-comeback win over Magic Valley, the Stampede offense came out of the gates firing, recording 368 yards of total offense and scoring on three of its first five drives.

   According to Yarger, his team simply picked up where it left off last week vs. the Bulldawgs.

   “... We were just really hoping that we didn’t come out like last week when we didn’t score until the fourth quarter,” Yarger said. “But I think having such a good fourth quarter really carried over unto this game. I think we did expect to come out (playing better on offense) because of the comeback last week.”

   There was a bit of a surprise on defense for Logan, however. While the Stampede knew the run-happy Desperados would go to the air more than normal after last week’s win over Great Falls in which Utah Valley scored a pair of passing TDs, the Stampede did not expect their opponents to pass the ball 39 times.

   Adamson and company had apparently sharpened the aerial assault as he passed for 247 yards and a touchdown, going 22-for-39 with just one INT.  

   According to Logan cornerback and RMFL veteran Brian Phillips, the unexpected passing didn’t catch his team off guard.

   “We didn’t think they’d come out and try and pass as much as they did, but they came out and threw the ball quite a bit,” Phillips said. “They’re predominantly a run team ... but we had a great game plan. Nick Jensen, our defensive coordinator, had a good game plan, and we shut ‘em down.”

   The win was especially sweet for Phillips, one of the team’s founding members.

   “It’s been a long time coming. This is my ninth year in the league,” Phillips said. “I don’t even know how to describe it. It’ll sink in tomorrow, probably. We put in a lot of hard work over the last two years to make this a possibility.”  
  Eli Lucero/Herald Journal

   Logan’s Jesse Yarger (11) looks to elude Utah’s Steve Andrews after making a catch on Saturday night. To view a photo gallery from this game, visit  hjnews.com  .

 
  Stampede 27,

   Desperados 13