Dogies drop last game of the season

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The regular season ended two weeks ago, but Newcastle and Burns still had a game to play. Due to a Covid postponement of their regular season game, the teams took the opportunity to suit up one more time and play their last game of the season, both hoping to end on a high note.
In nearly every category — except scoring — the Dogies dominated the Broncs. They had possession of the ball for 11 minutes more, they picked up five more first downs, they had one fewer turnovers, two more third down conversions and got a fourth down conversion while Burns was unable to make one of those happen. 
Unfortunately, mistakes that have been the monkey on the Dogies’ back all season showed themselves at the most inopportune times and changed the course of the contest for the worse. 
“Turnovers really hurt us, especially in their timing,” admitted head coach Matt Conzelman. “We’d get a good thing going and then we’d have a turnover or a bad snap that just set us up for a long situation and were just drive killers.”
Indeed, those small mistakes definitely stalled out the Dogies’ offense just as the team was poised to score more than once, and had they been able to control those moments, Newcastle could have punched in several more TDs on the night. 
As it was, Burns got on the scoreboard first with a touchdown at about the halfway mark of the first quarter, and were successful with their two-point conversion attempt to close out the first frame up 8-0 over Newcastle.
It was the Dogies’ turn to put one in at the midway point of the second quarter, on a two-yard scamper by Holden McConkey. McConkey set himself up to score with several carries in the offensive drive to get into the red zone. 
“Holden has really started to figure out how to get around guys, and though Burns did a great job of putting pressure on us, he would find a way to make things happen,” Conzelman nodded. “He had a touchdown called back earlier due to a holding call, so I was glad to see him get in the endzone. He’s a kid who works hard, is respectful and really coachable and I’m glad he’s just a sophomore.”
The Dogies attempted a two-point conversion after the McConkey TD to try to even the score, but were unsuccessful. 
Late in the second, the Dogies were putting together another drive and were within striking distance with short time to go, when an errant snap allowed Burns to take possession of the ball with good field position. They took advantage of the gift and punched another one in with 13 seconds to play so went into the half with the 14-6 lead over the Dogies.
The third quarter was a battle between the teams, and Newcastle’s defensive line did a tremendous job of holding the Broncs scoreless throughout. Offensively, they again were knocking on the door a couple of times but were unable to punch one in to close the gap.
However, in the fourth things started to heat up and the Dogies scored their second TD of the night on the back of Tate Engle who finished off a drive with a nine yard run into the endzone.
Again, the Dogies attempted a two-point conversion to try to tie the game and couldn’t quite get it in, so were trailing 12-14 with 8:11 to go.
The Dogies left everything on the field, but with 1:51 remaining, the Broncs upped their advantage to 20-12. Newcastle drove hard to try to send the game to OT but couldn’t quite get there, so dropped their last game of the season.
“That’s not the way we wanted to close it out, but you could sure see a lot of improvement over the course of the season,” Conzelman declared. “Seems like I say this every year, but a lot of young guys
got a lot of experience this year. The players that are coming back are really exciting because there is a lot of potential, so
it’ll be exciting to start up again next year.”
The Dogies will say goodbye to several seniors including Kale Corley, Chauncey Jenerou, Christian Santos, Skylar Jenkins, Xavin Gallardo, Kayne Hinshaw, Dylan Drost, Kilian Gorman, Emily Beastrom and Asia Graham who has been Conzelman’s team manager and right hand for the past
four years.
“We’ll miss those guys and I wouldn’t mind red-shirting a few of them and bring them back next year. They were a fun group to have,” Conzelman smiled. “Kale was sure fun to watch. He was a guy who gave everything he had and he did everything in his power to succeed and was a good role model for the other guys. It was good to see him get to carry
the ball a little bit, and he had
an interception in the game, which may have been the first of his career.”
Despite losing quite a few players to graduation, the Dogies will return several key players from this season in McConkey, Engle, Quint Perino, Slade Roberson, Hogan Tystad and Braden Jenkins to name a few. 
“There’s some things we can do in the future, and I’m hoping that the Coronavirus has calmed down a little by the spring that we can start doing some stuff like getting to a team camp this summer and getting in the weight room,” Conzelman added. “We missed that this summer so it would be great to get to do that again as it really helps the program.”