Dogies end a season of adversity

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
Dogie football fans knew it was going to be a tough night when Rowan Ruby broke free on the first play of the game and outran the Dogies 64 yards to give the Buffalo Bison the first touchdown of the game last Friday at Schoonmaker Field.
“Ruby was really fast,” head coach Matt Conzelman sighed. “He and Hatch were pretty quick and they had 13 seniors on the squad so we got to see a majority of them right away.”
The experience and the speed of the number one ranked Bison was simply too much for the Dogies
as they were outscored 55-0 in the first half.
“They are a big, strong, fast team that is a force to be reckoned with,” Conzelman admitted. “But when they started subbing, it was nice to go against the same age players as what we had on the field.
In the second half, the senior starters stood the sideline while
the younger Bison had their shot at the Dogies. 
Against an opponent their own size, the Dogies outscored Buffalo in the second half 14-7.
“When we had our freshmen and sophomores and few juniors playing against each other we really held our own,” Conzelman nodded. “They even had a few more juniors out there than we did, so that was nice to see that we could get some things done in that situation.”
The first touchdown for the Dogies came in the third quarter. It was a 15 yard pass play when Bradyn Frye connected with Christian Santos in the endzone to wipe out the goose egg on the scoreboard. Tristan Wornkey got the call on the two-point conversion attempt which he punched across the goal line.
The second TD of the night was a Frye to Wornkey, 21-yard pass. Unfortunately, this time the two-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful to give the Dogies their final score of 14 points.
 In stat comparison, the Dogies were much improved from last week’s contest against Burns. Against the Broncs, Newcastle only put up 31 yards rushing and 43 yards passing, where on Friday those same stats were 130 on the ground and 146 in the air.
“I was pretty pleased to see those numbers especially because we were without our throwing quarterback, Slade Roberson, in the game,” Conzelman stated. “Frye hadn’t gotten a lot of reps up until last week in practice when we knew that Slade wouldn’t be making the tosses, so he did pretty well in the position completing nine of his 23 attempts.”
The final score gave Buffalo a big 62-14 win over the Dogies, and the loss brought the season to an end for Newcastle. In reflecting on an admittedly difficult year, Conzelman emphasized that he was very proud of his young team for fighting through adversity and showing incredible perseverance regardless of their situation.
“I really just stressed that at the end of the day it’s just a game and is only a blink of an eye in a person’s life,” Conzelman began. “So it’s really about making memories and playing the game you love while you have the chance, learning life lessons from it, fighting through adversity, and sticking it out.”
Friday night was also the Pink game for cancer awareness. While the Dogies may not have won on the scoreboard, they certainly did when it came to raising funds for this devastating disease. Autographed Pink helmets from each team were auctioned off and the Newcastle helmet sold for $300 while the Buffalo helmet went for $125.
In addition, the NHS football team donated their proceeds from the Pinnacle Bank half-time tennis ball throw to J.R. Graham, an NMS student who is currently battling cancer. Taten Engle and Quint Perino, freshmen Dogie players, worked the crowd and earned $537 for the family. Then winners of the contest donated back $210 to the family as well which will go toward offsetting medical charges incurred. 
“I saw a story on ABC Nightly News featuring a University of Minnesota football player who has dealt with and has overcome stage four cancer,” Conzelman began. “He persevered and actually got on the field for the first time last week, and we just wanted to help out J.R., a future Dogie, and I’m very proud of the guys for stepping up.”
With the 2019 season in the books, Conzelman reflected on the loss of Bradyn Frye, the team’s only senior, and looked forward to the future of the squad.
“It’s been fun watching Frye grow up over the four years. We had a senior roast the other night at our team spaghetti feed where I got the opportunity to reflect on what Frye was like coming in as a freshman,” Conzelman smiled. “I called him Frye’d Chicken because he had chicken legs. I can’t call him that anymore. He was
Small Frye and now he’s Big Frye. I told him how much respect I had
for him for sticking it out all four years through the good times and bad times, and my respect is off the charts for him.”
Losing only one senior means that a lot of players will be returning to the field next season. Though it was indeed a trial by fire for the younger athletes who were thrust into 2A varsity ball this season, they now have a wealth of experience under their belts and know where they need to be in August of 2020.