Dogies struggle offensively in opener

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Editor
 
Defensively, the Dogies came to play as they kicked off their 2021 season Friday against the Bison of Hot Springs, S.D., however, offensively, head coach Matt Conzelman’s squad just couldn’t seem to get things started.
Only four first downs, and a total of 56 yards rushing and receiving meant little opportunity for Dogies to put points on the board. Despite holding the Bison scoreless until 36.6 seconds remaining in the first half, Newcastle would ultimately drop their week zero, home opener to Hot Springs 0-23. 
The zero week game is a good one to give the team a low stakes contest to be able to get into a varsity competition to see where they stand and give them an idea of their strengths and weaknesses before jumping into conference play.
Unfortunately, the Bison came into the contest with an extra week and a game under their belts. Hot Springs also put together a decent overall game with attacks on the ground and in the air, while their defensive line was consistently solid in closing off options for the Dogies.
“They’re better as a team than they were last year,” Conzelman admitted. “They are tougher up front and have a couple of pretty nice weapons.”
One of those weapons was junior running back Landon Iverson who ran for more than 200 yards and scored four times against Hill City a week ago. 
“I thought we controlled [Iverson] for most of the night, but at the end we kind of lost containment a couple of times,” Conzelman admitted. “I knew that if he got some space, he’d be dangerous, but I think the longest run he had was his scoring one of 41 yards, so I was pretty pleased to hold him to just 125 yards.”
“We need to fix some alignment issues and we need to make sure we are doing our jobs a little bit better defensively, but I think we will do a pretty good job of locking some teams down a little bit and get teams off the field,” Conzeman anticipated. “The bend, not break philosophy is a good one, but we maybe need to bend a little bit less to force them into a punting situation so we have a shot at the goal.”
The Dogies definitely had some bright moments on defense. Tate Engle, Holden McConkey and Josh Womack teamed up to sack the quarterback. Tanner Neilsen was able to fall on a fumble recovery, while Aidan Chick and Hogan Tystad each had a pretty pivotal pass breakup which thwarted scoring opportunities for the Bison.
“The biggest thing we have to address is offense,” Conzelman determined. “We were never able to get into any kind of rhythm, there were missed assignments, and that just can’t happen.”
The Dogies went 1-2-3-punt quite often and though most players are on the field on both sides of the ball, to spend most of the game on defense definitely demands a lot from the athletes.
“We still had our chances,” Conzelman said. “We missed a great opportunity early that if the pass was connected, we would have started out 7-0. We really need to take advantage of the opportunities when they are there.”
Conzelman noted that it was nice having Slade Roberson back on the field as quarterback. In the second half, the senior made the decision to put the team on his back to try to turn things around offensively. It was Roberson who picked up the Dogies’ initial first down of the contest in the third quarter by tucking and running when it was clear that the Bison defense had closed off his options.
He ended up leading his team with 38 yards rushing and picked up three of the squad’s four first downs on the night.
“I don’t mind Slade running over people every now and then, but I don’t want him doing that every time,” Conzelman chuckled. “I want him to hit soft and take care of his body so we don’t lose him again.”
Realistically, Roberson hasn’t played since he was a sophomore given he tore his ACL in the first contest of the year against Hot Springs last season. 
“You can’t get that game speed and intensity you really need in practice,” Conzelman admitted. “There’s no doubt in my mind that Slade is going to keep getting better. He was shaking off some jitters and he rushed a couple of throws, but we will get him locked in a little better and get him more familiar with our scheme and that will work itself out.”
Senior tackle Josh Womack was tough off the defensive line throughout the contest, often breaking free and putting pressure on the Bison’s quarterback.
“Josh is physical and has a good motor on him,” Conzelman nodded. “He did a good job putting pressure on their QB.”
The Dogies went into the fourth quarter down only 0-13 so with a good defensive stance and an offensive opportunity, could have pulled to within one score of taking the lead.
“With 12 minutes left to play, I was still feeling pretty good about our chances,” Conzelman insisted. “We were getting into a position where we were creeping up on their doorstep, but then we had a  missed punt opportunity in the third quarter which left Hot Springs with great field position to start the fourth and they took advantage of that.”
The Bison pushed their lead to 20-0 with just 10 seconds ticked off the clock in the fourth quarter to really put the Dogies in an adverse situation, then connected on a 22-yard field goal attempt with 5:46 remaining to secure their 23-0 point advantage over Newcastle.
“It was a good game for us to start to know what it feels like to be in it for 48 minutes,” Conzelman declared. “We aren’t in shape yet, and it will take a couple of games to get our legs under us.”
Conzelman anticipates getting some of his players back this week who didn’t have enough practices to be eligible to play on Friday. The presence of those players will give the team some depth. 
“Looking at all of the high school games played in the country last weekend, what you will see is that one team lost, so this week is a bounce-back week for us,” Conzelman said. “But, we have a tough, good effort Buffalo Bison team coming to town against whom we won’t have a chance to miss assignments, so we need to clean that up.” 
Kickoff for the Dogies’ conference opener is scheduled for 6 at Schoonmaker Field on Friday evening.