By JON-MICHAEL SORACCHI
Published November 6, 2004
INVERNESS - Dexter Hill and Cole Chavis each had two touchdowns as Umatillia defeated Citrus 44-19 Friday night in the teams' regular-season finale.
Hill's touchdowns came on big plays and took the wind out of the Hurricanes (4-4), but it was Citrus' four turnovers that doomed it.
"I haven't had my butt kicked like that since 1999," Hurricanes coach Rik Haines said. "When you come out and make the mistakes we made, you can't expect to win."
The Bulldogs (4-4) opened the second quarter by recovering a muffed punt by Citrus' R.J. Cobb. It led to Chavis' 2-yard score, which gave Umatillia an 8-0 lead.
The Hurricanes put together an 11-play, 74-yard drive, capped by Walter Howard's 17-yard touchdown pass to Izryal Webb, that made it to 8-6.
But Hill struck back.
On the kickoff, the senior quarterback took the ball and returned it 85 yards to give the Bulldogs a 14-6 lead going into halftime.
"I just had to use my ability to get away from (the defenders)," Hill said.
Cobb fumbled on the opening drive of the second half, and Umatilla quickly capitalized when Marcus Weatherspoon scored on a 6-yard run to make it 22-6.
A 6-yard touchdown run by Cobb with 3:33 left in the third quarter pulled Citrus within 10.
With the Bulldogs facing third and 15 from their 15 on their next possession, Hill eluded the blitz and hit Charles Dobson with an 85-yard touchdown pass that gave Umatilla a 28-12 lead.
