Dogies roll over Broncs

Though there is a very outside chance that Newcastle’s position in the 2A East Conference could be taken away, the Dogies dominant 49-14 win over the Burns Broncs in their Homecoming contest on Saturday put head coach Matt Conzelman’s crew solidly in the second seed, which will give them the advantage of hosting the first round of playoffs in two weeks.

“I thought that offense had a great game, and defense had the bend-but-don’t-break mentality,” Conzelman nodded. “We kept track of their weapons and just played disciplined football.”

The Broncs came into the contest tied with the Dogies at 4-1 on the season. As such, the importance of the game was not lost on anyone.

“Speaking for myself, I wanted to prove something to ourselves and to everyone else that we are contenders,” said junior quarterback Teddy Troftgruben. “There was definitely some doubt from around the state, and even some concern within the team, about whether we could beat them.”

The Broncs record looked very similar to Newcastle’s regarding teams that each had defeated,  which contributed to some of the doubt that Troftgruben spoke of. Burns plays a very different game than Newcastle, liking to pass the ball rather than run it; and if the Dogies have a weakness, it is in their defense of the passing game.

“We had a couple of great interceptions, and I think that we are getting a lot better on pass defense,” said Conzelman, as he addressed that weakness. “I was really happy with the communication in the secondary.”

Troftgruben put the Dogies on the board early in the contest with the first touchdown of the day when he ran 19 yards for the TD to finish Newcastle’s first possession drive of the game. Cole Erb was good on the point after touchdown attempt to give the Dogies 7-0 lead, which they held at the end of the first quarter.
“They called my number, and the guys blocked really great for me,” Troftgruben said. “I was able to cruise into the endzone without really being touched.”

With 3:40 to play in the half, Connor Stohlhammer got into the endzone on a 10-yard scamper, and Erb was good again on the PAT to go up 14-0.

In an exciting final minute of action in the second quarter, the Dogie D forced a fourth-and-out and proceeded to march the ball down the field. With 3.9 seconds to play, Troftgruben connected on a 15-20 yard pass to Dane Crabtree in the endzone, and ran for the two-point conversion to give the Dogies the 22-0 lead at the half.

“Getting the touchdown right before half was huge, because we knew that they were going to get the ball to start the third quarter,” Conzelman said.

Coming out of the locker room, it was all Dogies, all the time for the first 10 minutes of the third quarter. On the Broncs first possession, Troftgruben picked off the quarterback’s pass which resulted in a scoring drive by Newcastle.

This time, Collin McConkey ran 13 yards for his first touchdown of the day, but Erb’s PAT was blocked giving Newcastle the 28-0 lead.

But defense wasn’t done.

On the next Broncs’ possession, Drew Conzelman snagged an interception at the Burn’s 45-yard line, and McConkey would finish off that possession with his second TD of the day. This time Erb was on the money, bringing the score to 35-0 in the Dogies’ favor.

The first hiccup of the day by the Dogies came after their ensuing kickoff was run back by Burns to give them their first score of the day. As the third quarter came to an end, the Dogies led 35-7.

Landon Hatheway got in on the scoring action by running one in at the 9:56 mark of the game, and Erb was good on the PAT.

The biggest, and most dramatic, score of the night happened with 7:48 to play in the contest. McConkey took a direct snap and went 54 yards in a spectacular TD run. The junior broke free from the fray, spun his way out of two tackles, and stiff-armed the remaining Bronc defender to get into the endzone. Erb was good on the PAT to give the Dogies a 49-7 lead.

“I was right by Collin, and seeing your teammate do something like that really boosts the team morale,” Troftgruben said. “I know Collin has been a little frustrated, so seeing him really get in his element was
really cool.”

The Broncs were finally able to break into the endzone for their final TD of the night with 4:13 remaining, and from there the two teams remained scoreless giving the Dogies the
49-14 victory.

The Dogies have one more important conference matchup this Friday as they travel to Wheatland to take on the Bulldogs. A victory there will guarantee the second seed and home field advantage for the first round of playoffs next week. Action will get underway with a 7 p.m. kickoff.