Dogies grab first conference win

The Newcastle High School football team traveled to Burns Friday and made the long trip worthwhile as they picked up a decisive 28-0 victory over the Broncs to notch their first 2A Conference win of the season. Head coach Matt Conzelman was pleased with the total team effort that contributed to the positive outcome in the contest.
 
“It was a huge win down there,” Conzelman said. “I thought the line played well, the defense played really well, the skill guys played well, so we just couldn’t ask for more than that.”
 
The Dogies chose to receive to start the contest, and went three and out. Defense then got a stop and recovered possession, after which they drove down and attempted a 30-yard field goal where Jacob Abu Zhara missed just wide right. 
 
“It was close again, so hopefully we can get that fixed this week,” Conzelman explained. “Those are pretty important scoring opportunities for us, so we’d like to get that nailed down.”
 
The contest went back and forth through much of the first quarter, but the Dogies were able to strike first to get on the board before the second quarter got under way. 
 
Freshman Dane Crabtree broke free with the help of some great blocking by the offensive line to run the ball into the end zone on a 73-yard scamper. 
 
“It was a power play for him at quarterback. Blocking was great on that play, and I don’t know if he even got touched!” Conzelman said. “It was a great score, and really swung the momentum to our favor.”
 
Abu Zhara was good on the PAT to give the Dogies a 7-0 lead to close out the first quarter.
 
The second quarter was more of a back and forth between the two teams, and they went into the locker room still at a 7-0 score in Newcastle’s favor.
 
“At half time, I told the guys that we couldn’t let the Broncs hang around, and that we needed to take control of the game,” Conzelman said. “We obviously did a good job of that in the second half.”
 
That the Dogies did well coming into the second half is an understatement. In the third quarter, freshman Landon Hatheway continued to impress in his debut season of high school football by running in three touchdowns, all from short yardage. Abu Zhara followed each TD with a successful PAT. Those touchdowns would be the end of the scoring for the game, and the Dogies left Burns with the 28-0 victory and their first conference win.
 
“We had some big pass plays, so that was nice to see that aspect of the game get going. Casey [Matthews] had a big catch, and Cort [Perino] had a couple of big catches that set up scores for us, and Skyler Cummings ran three screens for us that were also really good,” Conzleman reported.
 
“Landon was running hard, and we maybe gave him a few too many touches. He had 27 carries, but I don’t want to put too much of a load on him and get him banged up.”
 
Defense was on point on the night. Aidan Butler had a fumble recovery, while Teddy Troftgruben and Crabtree each picked off a pass for interceptions. 
 
“Dane had one on the sideline that was just beautiful. If he’d been a little faster, he probably would have scored,” Conzelman said. “He picked it off at about the 50-yard line, but the quarterback for the Broncs was able to snag him before he could put it in the end zone.”
 
“Teddy’s was in the red zone. They were putting together a pretty good drive against us, but we were the epitome of bend, don’t break,” he continued. “We held our ground and Teddy picked off the pass. Those plays are just deflating.”
 
Where the Dogies faced their greatest adversity in the contest was in penalties. Conzelman noted that the number of calls in the game had the effect of killing some of the Dogies’ drives and that they also may have gotten into his players’ heads.
 
“It was the most flags I’ve ever seen thrown in a high school football game. We had two touchdowns called back and another 50-80 yards of Landon’s runs called back,” Conzelman said. “Going into the half, we had 12 and they had two, and I think it ended up 20-plus to five. Half of them were legit and half of them were questionable.”
 
Burns started what should become a fun tradition between the Broncs and the Dogies. They created a traveling trophy for the annual “Black and Orange” game, which is a helmet with half of it representing Newcastle and the other half Burns. The winner of the yearly contest will be the proud owner of the trophy until the teams meet in the following season. 
 
This week, the Dogies will host the No. 3-ranked Tongue River Eagles in the Homecoming game Friday night. 
 
“They are having a good season with a lot of returners and they are senior heavy,” Conzelman said. “They are big and fast, and do a lot of stuff really well and don’t make mistakes.”
 
Friday night’s festivities will begin at 5 p.m. with a free tailgate feed sponsored by the Dogie Booster Club, with kickoff at 6 p.m.