Dogies struggle against Bulldogs

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
  
Turnovers were the name of the game and the Dogies’ worst nightmare Friday in Wheatland as the Bulldogs racked up four pick-sixes in their 45-13 victory over Newcastle. 
“Initially, it was a pretty good start for us,” began head coach Matt Conzelman. “But then their first score was a pick-six and then we had three more of them by the end of the game. The turnovers are killing us.”
The Bulldogs were guilty of even more turnovers than the Dogies, throwing two interceptions and committing three fumbles which the Dogies recovered. However, the difference in the outcome of the contest was that Wheatland was able to convert all four into touchdowns while Newcastle was only able to capitalize on one. 
The Dogies put together an offensive drive after the Wheatland touchdown to punch one in to get on the board.
“We ran a spread out pass play, and Quint [Perino’s] first look was [Aidan] Chick deep and then it was [Hogan] Tystad,” Conzelman began. “Quint put up a perfectly thrown ball and Aidan ran under it for the catch. That was exciting for us to be able to do that right away in the first quarter.” 
After snagging the 40-yard pass from Perino, Chick had to run for another 20 yards to get in the endzone for the Dogies’ first six points of the game. Because the Bulldogs had run in a two-point conversion, Conzelman opted to do the same to try to even the score, however the Dogies were unsuccessful in their attempt so ended the first quarter down 6-8.
“We were battling and it was exactly where we needed to be,” Conzelman nodded. “But then things went down hill during the second quarter.”
At the beginning of the second, the Bulldogs were putting together a drive on Newcastle when Braden Jenkins got an interception off a screen play. He read the play and picked it off, however the Dogies were unable to convert that turnover into any points. 
Unfortunately, the squad then threw another pick-six, Wheatland was able to get a big run from their running back for another TD, and by the end of the half, the Dogies were back in familiar territory, down 6-22. 
After the half, Newcastle rallied to battle against the Bulldogs and right at the beginning of the fourth the Dogies struck again as Holden McConkey punched another one in on a seven yard scamper. 
McConkey’s score was set up by Chick with another big catch to put the Dogies in good field position. Conzelman thought Chick was going to go all the way to the house, but he got pushed out at about the seven yard line. Then McConkey ran it in on the next play. 
Emily Beastrom pushed the score up to 13 by putting the ball through the uprights on the PAT following the touchdown. She then went on to execute a perfect on-side kick which ended up bouncing over the top of a Bulldog and the Dogies piled in and recovered it to regain possession. 
Unfortunately, the Bulldogs held Newcastle out of the endzone for the remainder of the contest to take the win. 
“Other than the turnovers, we had a pretty good game. We were over 200 yards in total offense, Holden had 131 yards rushing, so if we could get the turnover bug fixed, we would have been in good shape,” Conzelman sighed. “You can’t have four turnovers like that and expect to win a game and having four of them going back to the house is crazy.”
Chick also had a successful night snagging five receptions for all 91 yards of the Dogie offense in the air, and defensively the squad played pretty well aside from letting the Bulldogs pull off a few big plays.
“We were fighting which is great, but we need to clean it up and go into the Burns game and just play,” Conzelman determined. 
This week is the beginning of playoffs, however both Burns and Newcastle didn’t make the cut for postseason play so they are using the opportunity to make up their postponed contest from earlier in the season.
“The guys are excited about it because they know that game should have been the senior’s last game on Schoonmaker Field so they are pumped to get one more,” Conzelman stated. “It gives us an opportunity to play this game we love and we have a chance to get this one. It will be great if we can go out and execute and take care of the ball to get a win to finish off the year.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday.