Outsized and outmanned

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogies have been facing one tough obstacle after another from week to week this season, and they were presented with them again last Friday as only one senior and one junior took the field against the Burns Broncs. 
The remaining nine young men were sophomores and freshmen and they were tasked with trying to stop what head coach Matt Conzelman describes as one of the best quarterback/running back combos in 2A East football. 
“We had starters in the game who were playing different positions than they were used to, and then newbies who weren’t used to it at all,” Conzelman began. “Even if we have to take one guy out of the game, that shifts a lot of people into positions that are unfamiliar so they don’t know what they were supposed to do from play to play.”
Good news for the Dogies was that junior Tristan Wornkey returned to action after being sidelined for the last few games with a broken foot, and his return was welcomed by his teammates.
“He’s the kind of player who just makes other players better,” Conzelman began. “He always has a positive vibe that rubs off on players.”
The Broncs got on the board early due in a large part to the quarterback/running back combo that Conzelman referenced.
Unfortunately, Newcastle struggled to put together a consistent offensive drive throughout the evening. However, defensively the Dogies played admirably despite the lopsided score.
“If we rewind the first quarter, I thought we banged with them pretty well,” Conzelman determined. “Defense did play pretty well the whole game though.”
As the first quarter drew to a close, Burns held a 14-0 lead, and they would go on to extend that lead to 46-0 by the end of the half.
The defense forced two fumbles in the first half of play, but were unable to capitalize on the turnovers to put points on the board. Brandon Donner fell on the first one, and Wornkey wrapped up the second.
“We ended up forcing three turnovers in the game, so we did some really good things
on defense,” Conzelman stated. “Where we really struggled was on special teams and on offense.”
The Broncs were able to score off of two special teams plays, one of which was a blocked punt which put the ball in the Burns’ players hands just a few yards outside of the endzone, and then the offense just couldn’t seem to get anything going.
“We’d get into a pretty good position to pick up a first down, and then there would be a bad snap which would put us in a fourth and long situation,” Conzelman began. “But, as far as persevering and continuing to play all night goes, I though we did that so that’s a real positive given the situation.”
With the score what it was as the third quarter got underway, there was a running clock for the second half of play. Though the Dogies were never able to get on the board, they were able to hold Burns out of the endzone in those final 24 minutes of the contest.
It was a bit of a trial by fire for the younger players, but the experience they are gaining due to the absence of the older players will be valuable going forward.
“You know it’s not the best situation we could hope for, but they have to play and learn sometime,” Conzelman pointed out. “I am glad that we will have some of the older guys back this week for our game against Buffalo though.”
Conzleman is expecting to have all five juniors back on the field as the Bison come town on Friday for the
Dogies’ final game of the season which is also senior night and Pink night. 
“Buffalo is high-powered and strong and you name it, they got it,” Conzelman stated. “They are loaded with talent and are ranked second in the state and first on our side.”