Dogies put up a fight at home

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
It’s been said before, but the score wasn’t an accurate reflection of the game the Dogies played at Schoonmaker Field as the Torrington Trailblazers came to town last Friday.
“The ‘Blazers are big, and we knew that they were going to be tough because of who they have played and how they played them,” head coach Matt Conzelman began. “They just dropped down to 2A this season so they are coming in with a pretty tough schedule against teams they have hung with and beaten, so they have good experience with that.” 
Newcastle was certainly outsized as they took the field and the ‘Blazers struck first taking a 6-0 lead with 6:44 remaining in the first quarter, then three minutes later they extended their lead to take a 14-0 lead at the end of the first frame of play. With 9:19 to go in the half, Torrington’s quarterback connected on a 27-yard pass to his receiver to go up 22-0 as the teams headed into the locker room.
“I thought that once we settled in a little bit, we started playing like we should have been,” Conzelman nodded. “The second half looked a lot better and I think the guys realized that, yeah, they are big, but we’re not going to die so let’s just play.”
Indeed, the Dogies looked much more in control during the third and fourth quarters. Aside from a couple of critical and timely mistakes, the squad held off the ‘Blazers. After allowing them to get in the endzone three times in the first 14 minutes of play, the defense made a few stellar stands to keep them out for the next 25 minutes, and the offense was able to punch in a touchdown to get on the board before the end of the third quarter. 
The score came after quarterback Quint Perino connected with Hogan Tystad on a 23-yard pass on the near sideline where Tystad managed to walk the tightrope of staying inbounds for the Dogies’ first score of the night. Tystad also connected on two more receptions from Perino for a total of 85 yards receiving, and on defense, he picked off the ‘Blazer quarterback for an interception. Emily Beastrom followed the TD with a good PAT, scoring her first points in front of her home crowd.
“It was good for us to come out and get a score, and then I kept telling them that we were just one score away from being in the fight and in striking distance,” Conzelman insisted. “We survived through the third, and then we started a really good drive at the start of the fourth, but then got stalled out.”
Unfortunately, the Trailblazers came alive in the fourth quarter and were able to hit a monster play up the sideline for a score with 8:40 to play, then got another one in with 6:13 remaining, extending their lead to 35-7. Two minutes later, the Dogies were in possession of the ball when Perino threw a pass which was intercepted for a pick six. 
Having been thwarted with their running game all night, the Dogies stuck with the pass and, unfortunately, Perino’s pass was again intercepted for another pick six just eight seconds later to allow Torrington to extend their lead to 49-7 with just 4:07 remaining.
“We initially put up a pretty good fight to still be in there in the third quarter and we were able to hold them off the board for a while,” Conzelman stated. “The defense did a good job holding this bigger, more experienced team off the board for two quarters, and that effort included red zone stands that kept them off the board.”
Newcastle put together an offensive drive in the final minutes of the game, and marched the ball down the field to punch in another touchdown on an eight-yard scamper by Holden McConkey. Emily Beastrom was good on her second PAT of the night to give the Dogies 14 points on the board. 
Though the contest ended with a decisive 49-14 win for Torrington, on paper Newcastle battled with the ‘Blazers. The Dogies had one more offensive play than Torrington, committed four fewer penalties resulting in losing only 30 yards vs. 85 yards, and had possession of the ball 11 minutes longer. 
Unfortunately, Torrington got a lot more yardage because of some big plays, where they were able to capitalize on Newcastle mistakes. 
“We had a great defensive stand and then a couple of nice offensive plays to put us in a positive situation, and then one mistake blows it out of the water,” Conzelman frowned. “It’s frustrating for everyone, but we just gotta come back on Monday and try to be better.”
The game scheduled for this Friday against Burns has been postponed due to a positive COVID case on the Broncs team. Both squads really want to play this game, so preliminary scheduling will have the two teams making up the contest on October 29th, the week of playoffs. 
“Burns is a very similar team to us so I would really like to see how we match up with them,” Conzelman stated. “They have a lot of young kids on the field and they’ve had some injuries like we have had, so it’s a good matchup for us.”
With the cancellation, Newcastle will have two weeks to prepare to travel to Wheatland to take on the Bulldogs on Oct. 23.