Dogies burn the Broncs

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Editor
 
The Dogies are lighting up the gridiron and are on a 4-1 streak, which has put them just one game away from a playoff berth. After losing last week in a hard-fought contest against the No. 2-ranked Torrington Trailblazers, the Dogies got back on their winning track by defeating the Broncs in an exciting, nail-biter of a game Friday in Burns.
“It was a high blood pressure game for sure!” head coach Matt Conzelman said. “Every game has a little bit of a story, and I think that on Friday, the referees were trying to fill their flag quota for the month. Then you add on top of that, we came out a little flat, but man did we battle!”
The Dogies received to start the contest and on their first possession ended up having to punt it away. Hogan Tystad booted a 43-yard punt to back Burns up all the way to their 1-yard line for their first chance with the ball.

Dogie defense then put up a wall and jammed up the Broncs forcing a three-and-out situation still on their own 1-yard line. Burns was able to get the punt away, however they left Newcastle with great field position at the Broncs 23-yard line. 
The Dogies drove down to the 9-yard line, however a penalty on third down pushed them back, so Conzelman opted to give Dylan McFarlin the chance to put Newcastle on the board with a field goal.
“We were in pretty good position for him to get us some points,” Conzelman stated. “So we said go for it, and he knocked it through from 27 yards out.”
On their next possession, Burns completed a huge pass play to bring them down to the Dogies’ 21-yard line with 2:15 to go in the first quarter. However, as the Broncs were rushing for the end zone, the Dogies knocked the ball out of the carrier’s hands, and Tanner Nielsen was in the right position to scoop it out of the air for a fumble recovery on his team’s 16-yard line. 
A defensive showdown then took place between the two teams until Burns was able to get on the board with a pass play, which culminated in a huge 35-yard scamper into the end zone with 8:31 to play in the half. Fortunately, a bad snap by the Broncs, coupled by a big defensive stance by the Dogies denied Burns the 2-point conversion. 
“They run tunnel screens with their wide receivers and that makes it really tough, and puts a lot of stress on the defense,” Conzelman said. “So they got in and went for two, but our ‘bend, don’t break defense’ made a stop and didn’t let them in.”
Again, the offenses went back and forth and the Dogies were able to eat up some clock, but Burns made another serious push with 1:17 remaining in the second quarter. With .9 seconds on the clock, and the ball at the Newcastle 6-yard line, Neilsen made another huge defensive play, breaking up the touchdown pass in the end zone. The save left the Dogies with only a 3-6 deficit heading into the half.
“Offense was a little bit better in the second half, but there were still too many drive killers,” Conzelman said. “I’d hate to see what we had for penalties, because we could just never get things going. The best offensive play we seemed to have was to punt.”
The Broncs received to start the third quarter and, once again, drove down the field. However, Nielsen was again the man for the Dogies and made his third pivotal defensive play when he intercepted the ball on the 42-yard line of Newcastle. 
This offensive possession by the Dogies consisted of a combination of huge gains, only to be backed up by penalties. However, between Slade Roberson and Holden McConkey, Newcastle was able to drive down to the Broncs’ 15-yard line. 
“We were moving the sticks, but penalties were trying to stall up the drive,” Conzelman admitted. “But then we were trying to run a pass play to the right side, and Slade looked, but nothing was open. So he took off, threw out one stiff-arm and then dove into the end zone.” 
McFarlin was up for the PAT, but a penalty on Burns gave the Dogies half the distance to the goal. McFarlin gave it another shot and put the ball through the uprights to give his team the 10-6 lead with 8:04 to play in the third quarter.
It was then a knock-down-drag-out slugfest as each team traded possession of the ball. 
Typical of the Dogies’ season thus far, everything came down to a goal-line defensive stand with just over a minute-and-a-half to play in the contest. And, not surprisingly, Nielsen would end up part of a trio consisting of him, Aidan Chick and Jacob Prell who made a huge play to help their team hang onto the win.
“When they got the ball I kept looking at the clock, and then they got a huge play over the top of us,” Conzelman declared. “Tanner got him at the 2-yard line, and then I was debating about just letting them score so we had time to do something. But then Chick and Prell knocked the ball loose and Tanner recovered the fumble on their 1-yard line.”
With 1:37 to play, Roberson picked up 12 yards on a quarterback sneak to get Newcastle out of the danger zone for a safety. The Dogies wanted to keep fans on the edge of their seats, however, when McConkey fumbled the ball after gaining 21 yards with 40.7 seconds to play. Everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief, however, when McConkey recovered his fumble, and Roberson was able to kneel on the ball to finish out the contest. 
“It was a game of highs and lows, and it was just a roller coaster ride,” Conzelman said. “And credit to their defense, they gave us fits all day. They were tough up front and I can see why they were banging with those top teams all season. It goes back to our philosophy — Compete, all in, find a way. We found a way!”
The win brings the Dogies to 3-3 in the conference, and aided by an upset 22-21 win by Tongue River over Big Horn, means that Newcastle is now just one win away from a playoff berth.
“This week is huge,” Conzelman declared. “We’ve already talked about this, but these last two games are really playoff games for us. If we win against Wheatland on Friday, we’re in!” 
The pivotal game kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday at Schoonmaker Field. 
“This is an exciting time,” Conzelman said. “We are going to need our fans out in force to be the 12th man on Friday night. Get your cowbells out for this one!”