Eagles smother the Dogies

The Dogies had another tough weekend under the Friday Night Lights, traveling to Tongue River to take on the Eagles in a conference match-up which ended with head coach Matt Conzelman’s squad on the wrong end of a 7-30 final score.
“We played with the No. 2-ranked Eagles for three quarters,” Conzelman reported. “But then in the fourth quarter, the wheels just fell off the bus for us. Their back finally got a little breathing room and we found out he was faster than us.”
The contest was bookended by quarters which held all the action. The first quarter ended with the Eagles up 14-7, then there wouldn’t be any more offensive action until the fourth when Tongue River put in two more TDs and claimed a safety for their 30 points.  
“I told them all week to just hang close and give us a chance at the end,” Conzelman reminisced. “Going into the fourth quarter only down one touchdown is giving us a chance.”
“We even had the chance to tie it at the end of the third, but then we threw a pick on their 35- or 40-yard line,” he continued. “We were putting a nice little drive together and had some stuff clicking finally, but I give credit to their defense because it was smothering.”
The Eagles got on the scoreboard first on a run play near the end of the first quarter after a short punt had them set up with a short field opportunity. 
However, the Dogies answered right back with an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Holden McConkey. A good PAT attempt by Finn Gerlag tied things up at 7-7.
“Holden got touched once, I think, and then he was off to the races,” Conzelman explained. “He’s been having some really good returns, so we were surprised to see them kick to him.”
From there, the Dogies executed some good stops on defense, and Tongue River found themselves fighting penalties, which called some pretty impressive gains off. However, the Eagles were able to punch one more in before time expired in the first.
Newcastle went into the half down 7-14, then the third quarter was another defensive battle back and forth. Unfortunately, the fourth quarter got out of hand for Newcastle, and the Dogies would end the game with four interceptions, two of which came in the final frame of play. 
“We wanted to get a run game started, but it was non-existent,” Conzelman sighed. “We finished with negative five yards in the first quarter, and only gained nine yards in the second. We got 27 in the third and 32 in the fourth, so it progressively got better — just not good enough.
The defensive juggernaut of the Eagles was apparent given that Newcastle has so far been a pretty good running team, and they were held to only 35 yards on the ground, and actually finished with more passing yards with Quint Perino picking up 53 yards in the air.
The Dogies were able to get a few first downs during the contest, but the smothering defense of Tongue River was too much for the squad. 
On Thursday, the Dogies will face off against the Upton/Sundance Patriots in the annual Weston County Civil War. Kick-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Schoonmaker Field.