Dogies stampede the Herders

The Dogies played their final home game of the season Friday as they hosted Glenrock in the senior night contest. Head coach Matt Conzelman’s crew went out in style on Schoonmaker Field with a decisive 35-13 routing of the Herders.
 
“It was a great night,” Conzelman said, grinning. “You always want to send out those seniors with a great last home game, so it was awesome that we were able to do that.” 
 
The Dogies received to start the contest and on their first offensive possession they put together a nice drive, which culminated in a five-yard touchdown scamper by sophomore quarterback Teddy Troftgruben. Jacob Abu Zhara finished things off nailing the point after touchdown attempt to give the Dogies the 7-0 lead with only a couple of minutes ticked off the clock. 
 
“We got off to a fast start, which is exactly what we want to see,” Conzelman said. “We ate a couple of minutes off the clock as well, so that was good.”
 
The Herders had an answer to the Newcastle touchdown, however, as they punched one into the end zone on a 34-yard pass play and they capped it off with a good PAT of their own to tie things up at sevens.
 
“Our pass protection needs to get a little better,” Conzelman admitted. “And Glenrock definitely has some weapons and has potential in the future.”
 
The first quarter wound down with the two teams still locked at 7-7, but then the Dogies opened up the floodgates in the second frame of play scoring 20 points to take the 27-7 lead into the locker room.
 
Landon Hatheway had back-to-back touchdowns as second quarter action under way. One resulted from a 17-yard run, and the other from a one-yard scamper into the end zone. Abu Zhara was good on the first PAT attempt, but had his second attempt blocked to give Newcastle the 20-7 lead.
 
Thomas Prell had his moment before time ticked off the first-half clock when he ran one in from 14 yards out. Abu Zhara was back on form hitting the PAT attempt to give the Dogies another seven points.
 
“We went into the half feeling pretty good,” Conzelman said. “We had seven first downs in the first half, which is pretty good for us. Being able to move the ball and keep our drives alive was great.”
 
“But, I just kept telling the guys that if the Herd got even one touchdown, it was back to being a ball game,” Conzelman continued. “We knew we had to keep up the pressure if we wanted to keep things out of reach.”
 
The third quarter ended up being a defensive battle with both teams going back-and-forth and no points going on the board. 
 
In fact, the only points scored in those 12 minutes was when the Dogie defense forced the Herders to give up a safety in their own end zone. Aiden Butler took advantage of a bad snap by Glenrock, elevating the Newcastle lead to 29-7 as the fourth quarter began. 
 
The Dogies made one final trip into the end zone in the final frame of play as senior Colton Vanderpool Mobley ran in a touchdown from 42 yards out. Again, Abu Zhara’s PAT attempt was blocked, which held the Dogies to 35 points on the night. 
 
Conzelman subbed out many of his number one players late in the contest to give his second string some time on the varsity field. This crew made a great defensive play as the Herders were closing in on the end zone, intercepting their quarterback’s pass from his intended receiver. Unfortunately, the Dogie offense turned it right back over with a fumble on their first play, which the Herders used to get another one into the end zone before time ticked off the clock. The Dogies were able to thwart their PAT attempt, however, so held the Herders to only 13 points on the night.
 
“We dispersed the ball pretty well, which is something we’ve been focusing on,” Conzelman said. “Landon [Hatheway] still had a majority of the carries, finishing the game with 19 carries for 171 yards, but then we had six other guys who picked up yardage, too.”
 
Troftgruben ended the night with 13 carries for 82 yards, Prell had three carries for 52 yards, Vanderpool Mobley also had three carries for 46 yards, Dane Crabtree had five for 13 yards, Collin McConkey carried the ball twice for 9 yards, while Skyler Cummings had one carry for 18 yards. 
 
This week is the last game of the season for the Dogies, and they will wrap things up with a tough opponent on the road in Torrington. The Trailblazers have clinched the No. 2 seed from the East and have continually improved throughout the season.
 
“It’s going to come down to us taking care of the ball,” Conzelman predicted. “We really need to sustain our drives to keep the ball out of their hands, because they are pretty explosive offensively.”