NORWOOD, Oct. 12, 9:42 a.m. – If one were only evaluating the first half of the Norwood Mavericks’ homecoming game against Dove Creek, you could make a case that good things were happening on the field in their 44-8 loss to the Dove Creek Bulldogs.

At halftime, the score was 17-8. The Mavericks had bent, but had not broken. If not for an interception while the Mavs were deep in the Bulldogs’ territory at the mid-point of the second quarter, with Norwood driving the ball all of the way down to the five-yard line looking ready to score to possibly make it 17-15, homecoming might have been a different story for the home team.

“We went into halftime feeling pretty good,” said Norwood coach Tom LaFramboise. “All of the players were saying, ‘Hey, this is fun.’ ”

The fun part being that, in the first half, the Mavericks were definitely in the game after it appeared they were going to be party to a blow-out from start to finish.

Dove Creek had begun the first quarter going up 11-0 with a touchdown and a field goal after a Mav’s fumble deep in their own territory. Then, after the Mav’s offense went three-and out, the Bulldogs continued to ramble.

Moving crisply down the field with a poised, efficient attack, collecting yards in bunches of 10 or 12 yards at a time, the Dove Creek went ahead 17-0 with a TD run with 3:21 left in the first quarter.

Homecoming for Norwood was looking pretty grim, at that point.

But then the Mavericks, behind the leadership of quarterback Jesse Efurd and the hard-nosed efforts of running back Trevor Ragsdale (who eventually became the night’s homecoming king), got to work. Efurd, on a scramble after the blocking broke down on a pass play, rolled to the right and found an open receiver for a 60-yard TD pass that made the score, with the successful extra point, 17-8.

At that point, perhaps, with the momentum on its side, Norwood could have made a game of it. When a punt put the Bulldogs deep in their own territory, the Mav’s defense, as it consistently has all year, put up a strong effort when the game was on the line.

The Mavs, after the defense forced a punt, got the ball with 6:07 left in the second quarter and Efurd had his team moving again, clearly getting his confidence on his throws, and then using his feet to do the rest to get the team down to the five-yard line.

But alas, that old error-prone genie spilled out of the bottle again. First, there was a five-yard penalty after a jittery move from the line pushed them back. Then, Efurd dropped back and fired a pass over the middle … only to be intercepted.

The Norwood defense continued to hold, but when the Mavs got the ball again, they fumbled.

For LaFramboise, this was a pattern he had seen for the past three weeks: The team would get into position to make it a competitive game, but key mistakes proved to kill off their momentum.

“If we had made that score before halftime …,” lamented the Mavs’ coach. “It’s happened three games in a row. We would make a mistake and we don’t put it in the end zone. So we have to get past that.”

Things really began to unravel after the homecoming activities at halftime. Another turnover early in the third quarter allowed the Bulldogs to quickly get another TD on a nine-yard run. Suddenly, the score, with the two-point conversion, was 25-8.

Any comeback became an abstraction. When the Bulldogs scored on a punt return with a fake reverse, it became 32-8. The homecoming cause was lost.

Now the Mavericks, as they once again face Nucla, a developing powerhouse, for a second time, are 2-3 overall, and 0-2 in league play. Friday night’s game in Norwood will give the Mavs a chance to avenge a 21-6 loss to the Mustangs early in the season. In that game, again, mistakes in the red zone hurt the Mavs chances for a contest that could have been closer in the end.

It will be the last league game for the Mavs, who will nonetheless be making the playoffs because of the small number of teams in their division. In fact, considering their league record will be at best 1-2, if they can beat Nucla, there’s a very good chance the Mavericks will be facing one of the top-seeded team in their division: Sangre De Christo, which handed Nucla its only loss this year. Indeed, it might be an opportunity for  Norwood to see some real good football before season’s end because Sangre De Christo is ranked No. 5 in state polls for eight-man football at the high school level.

Now the Mavs have only a few more chances to find an antidote for the mistake bug.

“We just need to gain some confidence,” LaFramboise said.