With a win on Saturday at Rio Americano, Davis High’s football team would be 3-1 — the first time since its last playoff season in 2007 that the Blue Devils have won as many as three games.

After scoring 123 points in its first three outings, DHS isn’t short on confidence — but all involved know the team is a work in progress and the players are keeping their comments close to the vest.

“We really have to keep working hard each day, start faster in our games and finish,” senior safety Adam King told The Enterprise recently. “We have goals, but I know it’s cliché … right now it is one game at a time.”

Those goals?

“We want to get better every day,” said lineman Brian Stabenfeldt, another solid senior.

His O-line coach Charles Johnson added: “Getting a win in (Delta Valley Conference) is a goal. Making the playoffs is a goal. But we are focused on Saturday right now.”

The Raiders (1-2), who have allowed more than 220 yards rushing in each of their three games, probably will see a steady diet of Devil running back Winfred Roberson — at least early on.

Roberson has gained 303 yards and scored five touchdowns. The way Jesuit and Casa Roble torched Rio on the ground, running the football seems the easiest way to paydirt in the 1 p.m. road game.

But DHS head coach Steve Smyte says it every week: “We’ll take what they give us.”

In last Friday’s 62-0 win over Armijo, the Indians gave Davis everything.

Quarterback Grant Dickerson was 5-for-6 passing, good for 220 yards and a school record-tying five touchdowns. Wideout C.K. Hicks caught 60- and 38-yard scores while Kevin Sorensen had 38- and four-yard TD receptions. Tight end Brendan MacDonald went 80 yards for the other Dickerson tally — thanks to a downfield escort from Hicks and Sorensen.

Even Dickerson’s backup, Emilio Barba, got some love when he found Daniel Martin for a late 71-yard end zone visit.

But Armijo (0-2) isn’t Rio Americano, who gets home-field advantage in a peculiar setting — a Saturday afternoon game.

Johnson says the ambiance of Friday Night Lights will be gone and the adjustment to daylight can take some schools a little time.

However, this is a different-feeling Blue Devil squad and the thought of doing something — three wins — that hasn’t been done in five years is tantalizing.

Plus, Smyte believes each game is a building block. He likes that penalties have gone down each week (from a season-opening 14 to just two against Armijo) and that “the energy level is up on both sides of the ball.”

The defense, which in the past two weeks has forced six turnovers, has been playing gap responsibilities with aplomb, and the linebackers and defensive ends are flying to the ball.

If Rio Americano is to have a chance, the play of its QB Mark Lyon will be the key.

In a 28-7 victory at Golden Sierra last Friday, Lyon went 6-for-6 for 210 yards and three scores. The 5-foot-11 senior has thrown for 609 yards and six TDs on the young season.

On the ground, the Raiders look anemic: They are averaging 3.5 yards a carry and Darrin Nishi is their leading rusher with 117 yards on 27 carries.

The Blue Devil game plan seems simple …

Stop the run. Pressure the quarterback. Strive to put win No. 3 on the board. Then get ready for the Sept. 28 renewal of the Davis-Woodland rivalry.

Then, if all goes well, enjoy the following bye week, get well and head into DVC play with a renewed spirit.

But wait …

These are the One-Game-At-A-Time Blue Devils. Saturday is all that counts right now.

— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at [email protected] or 530-747-8047.

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DHS tight end Brendan MacDonald heads downfield on his way to an 80-yard touchdown last Friday against Armijo. The Blue Devils play at Rio Americano on Saturday. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise file photo

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