Injuries hit Dogie football team hard

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
Mother Nature blasted the Dogies with cold temps on Friday in their last home game against the Bobcats of Thermopolis, and adversity continued to strike the home team as they watched one starter after another leave the game due to injury.
“It wasn’t exactly what I had planned for Friday night,” head coach Matt Conzelman sighed. “I found out that morning that Payton Parks couldn’t go due to fluid on his knee so we started out down one, and then watched five more go down in the game and it really started piling up.”
Conagher Testerman got seven plays in before he was sidelined with a shoulder injury. Slade Roberson was out by the end of the first quarter with a concussion. Sawyer Roberson was already nursing an ankle injury which he re-injured, and Isaac Prell suffered a high ankle sprain. In addition, Aaron Fullerton came out for a bit with a stinger to his shin, but was able to go back in the game.
“We were digging deep to try to cover positions as guys kept getting hurt,” Conzelman declared. “We had Scrappy [Kyle Haslam] and Aaron kind of tag-teaming at the running back spot and they’ve never taken a snap there, and we were throwing young kids in the fray even though we know they may not quite be ready for that.”
To make matters worse for Newcastle, the Bobcats had some formidable weapons on the field for the entire contest that would be a handful even for seasoned varsity players. 
“Number 44 is only a sophomore and he did major damage to us offensively,” Conzelman admitted. “They have a lot of weapons that we just flat couldn’t handle.”
Though injuries made the challenge of taking on a talented opponent more difficult, Conzelman admitted that there were some things his team could have done to put themselves in a better position in the contest.
“Our defensive alignment and tackling could have been better, and offensively we just needed to be able to move the sticks,” he frowned. “I thought everything was set up perfectly right when we got the ball at the beginning of the game, and then we missed a wide open Dayton McFarland at tight end that could have been a scoring opportunity. We’re missing those big plays, so those just hurt.”
Thermopolis held a 20-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and went into the half up 50-0. As a result the Dogies went into the second half under the mercy rule, which meant a running clock for the remainder of the contest. Even with limited time, the Bobcats continued to run up the score for a final of 66-0. 
“I felt bad that the seniors had to finish their playing days at Schoonmaker Field on that game,” Conzelman stated. “We have kind of put it on them the last couple of years, so maybe this was a little retribution. It is what it is, but it wasn’t very much fun.”
The schedule isn’t getting any easier for the Dogies as they are traveling to Burns this Friday to take on the Broncs, who have improved since last season.
“They got a new coach who has done a good job with those guys, and they’re a lot better than they were last year,” Conzelman admitted “They have some high-powered weapons on offense and it looks like their defense plays pretty tough, so it will definitely be a game.”
Monday night at practice, the Dogies only had three seniors and one junior on the field, and the rest were sophomores and freshmen.  
“We won’t know exactly who we will have until Thursday, so it’s hit and miss as far as how high-powered we will be going down there,” Conzelman explained. “I hope we can get the young guys going quickly this week, because we may need them on Friday.”