Newcastle’s Dogies fall to Torrington Friday

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Editor
 
The Dogies headed to Torrington Friday riding the momentum of a two-game winning streak. However, they had a big challenge ahead of them given the Trailblazers are currently ranked as the No. 2 team in the state for 2A.
“There’s a reason they are No. 2,” said head coach Matt Conzelman. “They are big, and they are really good in the pass department. They have a couple of really good wide receivers so they are capable of moving the ball down the field.” 
In the first quarter and early into the second, the ‘Blazers lived up to their ranking and things were looking a little grim for Dogie fans as Torrington quickly jumped out to a two touchdown lead over Newcastle.
At the same time, Newcastle struggled to get going offensively and went three and out on their first two possessions. 
“They got the ball with pretty decent field position in the first quarter, and it was just like you snapped your fingers and it was 14-0,” sighed Conzelman. “But then we kind of dug in and got to work.”
The Dogies used the first quarter to adjust to the ‘Blazers defensive game, and Slade Roberson and Hogan Tystad began the momentum shift when Tystad snagged a huge catch to keep the Dogies’ offensive drive alive.
Quint Perino then had a big run on a screen play which set up the Dogies first touchdown of the night. They got on the board when Roberson connected with Tanner Neilsen in
the end zone, then Dylan McFarlin was good on the PAT to close the gap to 14-7.
“There were some huge plays by our guys on that drive,” Conzelman said. “After that, we were able to keep them at bay for the rest of the quarter.”
The Dogie defense continued their “bend, don’t break” tradition for the remainder of the half and kept the ‘Blazers contained and out of the end zone to go into the half down only one touchdown. 
The third quarter was a battle between the two squads. Torrington was able to get one in about midway through, but near the end of the third, the Dogies were knocking on the door with a chance to close the gap.
“We had a play set up for Aidan Chick, but we missed it,” Conzelman explained. “If he would have caught it, we would have scored on that or got really close to the goal line.”
The fourth quarter began with the score at 21-7 in Torrington’s favor, but the Dogies had a defensive stand close to the red zone, forcing Torrington to turn the ball over on downs. Newcastle then began driving down field and had gotten past the 50-yard line. At that point, a game-changing holding foul was called against the Dogies, and they went from the 50- to the 7-yard line.
“I’m not sure why it happened, but the officials called it a spot foul,” Conzelman said. “So the holding call backed us up 43 yards.”
After a series of unfortunate events which unfolded following the violation, the ‘Blazers were able to gain possession on the Newcastle 3-yard line and with 4:15 to play, they punched it in to go up 28-7.
There was still a lot of action left in the contest, however. The Dogies were determined to make up the difference, and drove down the field until Holden McConkey punched it in, and McFarlin was good once again on the PAT to make a little headway against Torrington.
Another strong defensive stance gave Newcastle the ball back, but then a pick-six was thrown, which gave Torrington the 35-14 score advantage with only 3:46 remaining on the clock.
“We were trying to get the ball to Tanner because he was having a heck of a night,” Conzelman explained. “They started a two-man coverage
on him so we went to the other side. But we didn’t block it like we should have and they were able to snag Slade’s throw.”
Despite the daunting task of needing three touchdowns to score, the Dogies went back to work and drove down the field for the final score of the night. This time, Roberson elected to take the ball in himself, and the Dogies then went for two. Roberson connected on a three-yard pass to Chick and the Dogies ended the night with 22 points on the board.
“We thought about holding onto the play, so we didn’t show Burns what we had up our sleeve, but all of the kids wanted to run it, so we went ahead with it,” Conzelman said, referring to their upcoming game this week. “It worked great, so now we’ll just have to come up with something new for Burns.”
“We’re right there, and now we’re at the point of the season where the team that is healthier and makes fewer mistakes is going to win the game,” Conzelman continued. “A playoff berth is still a possibility and is still in our hands, so these next two games are going to be big ones for us.”
On Friday, the Dogies will travel to Burns for the first of the pivotal contests. Looking at how the Broncs have matched up against similar opponents, Conzelman feels good about his team’s chances of coming home with the win. Kickoff is scheduled for 6.