Dogies drop season opener

Sonja Karp

NLJ Sports Editor

The Dogies opened up their season Friday with their zero week contest against the Thermopolis Bobcats. The Dogies struck first and were within a hair’s breadth of winning when the Bobcats hauled in a pass in the back of the end zone with zero time left on the clock. 

Head coach Matt Conzelman and crew felt the sting of that last second touchdown.

“That was a tough way to end the game,” Conzelman said. “We had our chances to get them stopped, but things just went their way at the end.” 

In the first half, the Bobcats and Dogies went back and forth as each team worked on clearing out the early season cobwebs. With just a few minutes left on the clock in the second quarter, Newcastle put together a great drive with Landon Hatheway picking up yardage to start. Collin McConkey had a big run to get the Dogies in the red zone, then scampered three yards into the end zone to get his team on the board. Cole Erb followed that with a successful PAT to give the Dogies a 7-0 lead with short time to play in the first half. 

The Bobcats had an answer for the Dogies, however, when Conzelman’s team gave up a huge pass play, allowing Thermopolis to get into the end zone. Dogie defense stood firm against the 2-point conversion attempt, however, leaving the Bobcats short, and taking the 7-6 lead into the locker room at the half.

Most of the second half was scoreless with the two teams trading possessions. However, an interception by Thermopolis late in the fourth gave them the ball and as time ticked off the clock, a tightly contested pass-play to the back of the end zone gave the Bobcats the 12-7 victory over the Dogies. 

“We had a couple of opportunities to stop them. It was fourth and eight and their quarterback ran just far enough to move the sticks,” Conzelman said. “We were close to making a play on that last pass, but it was just a very good catch in the back of the end zone.”

Defensively, the Dogies looked pretty good for the first game of the year. Colten Hatheway had three pass breakups, Teddy Troftgruben also had a pass breakup, and Drew Conzelman had a fumble recovery. 

“The boys put great effort out there, but we did put our defense in some pretty bad situations,” Conzelman explained. “Fortunately, they were up to the challenge and made some awesome stops.”

“We had a great game, defensively, even with a lot of young guys in our secondary,” reiterated senior captain Aidan Butler. “We have some kinks to work out, but it was a great learning experience, especially for the young guys playing in some varsity game intensity.” 

This week, the Dogies will head back to Buffalo on Friday to take on the 3A Bison in a non conference match-up with kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m.