Dogies prevail over the Patriots

The Dogies hosted the Upton/Sundance Patriots in the annual Weston County Civil War Friday at Schoonmaker Field, and for the first time since the Patriots have joined the ranks of 2A, Newcastle was able to claim bragging rights by decisively defeating Upton/Sundance, 32-14.
Not only was the win against their Weston County rival satisfying for head coach Matt Conzelman and his crew, but it also elevated the Dogies to 2-2 in the conference, which is a good position to be in at this point in the season.
“It felt really good to get that win,” said Conzelman. “I just preached the ‘next play’ attitude to try to get them to play all four quarters, and everything just came together. It wasn’t perfect, but it was where we needed things to be for that day.”
The Dogies switched up their strategy a bit and opted to defer to the second half for possession, therefore the Patriots received the ball to start the game and were able to pick up a couple of first downs, however the Dogie defense stopped their offensive drive short. 
“We decided to get the defense out there first so we could get rid of some start-of-game jitters,” Conzelman explained. “Defense is playing pretty tough and they got a stop right away, so that was a great way to get things rolling.”
The Dogie offense then took the field and on their first possession drove the ball down the field and punched it in the end zone on a quarterback sneak with Quint Perino. 
“We were trying to attack their outsides and Holden [McConkey] and Connor [Stolhammer] were really successful on the perimeter picking up first downs,” Conzelman began. “Then we got close and Quint got in the end zone.”
Dylan McFarlin stepped in and put the ball straight through the uprights for the PAT, so the Dogies took the lead 7-0.
Upton/Sundance was able to get on the board before the first quarter ran out when they got around the left side of the Dogie defense and were off to the races with a 50-yard touchdown run. Defense thwarted their two-point conversion attempt however, so Newcastle held on to a slim 7-6 lead.
The next scoring opportunity for the Dogies came as a result of a mishap on the part of the Patriots in the second quarter. They were punting on fourth down, and one of their own players got in the way of the ball, so the Dogies took possession of the ball with excellent field position.
Despite the advantageous start to the drive, Newcastle found themselves in a fourth down situation and opted to go for the field goal. Once again, McFarlin was right on the money with his kick attempt from 20 yards out to push the team to a 10-6 lead.
Dogie D then went back to work and recovered a fumble in Patriot territory, which set up touchdown number two for the squad. Perino connected on a 15-yard pass to Colton Vanderpool Mobley in the right corner of the end zone, and McFarlin was once again good with his PAT.
Upton scored again before the end of the first half on a pass play, and this time were good on their two-point conversion attempt to close the gap to 17-14 in the Dogies’ favor as the two teams went into the halftime break.
Unfortunately, adversity presented itself when Perino was sidelined with a concussion during the third quarter, so McConkey took over in that position. 
The Dogies adjusted quickly, however, and right after Perino went down, Connor Stolhammer scored on a five- or six-yard scamper into the end zone. 
“What was really cool was I sent the play in for Holden, but when Quint went out, he switched it up for Connor,” Conzelman said. 
This time, a bad snap and hold thwarted McFarlin’s PAT attempt, so the Dogies closed out the third frame up 23-14.
McConkey then took over, driving his team down the field in the fourth and final frame, and got into the end zone for a touchdown of his own. The PAT was good, which expanded Newcastle’s lead to 30-14.
“Holden went to work and he was pretty winded by the end of the game,” Conzelman chuckled. “He would have been close to 200 yards had a couple of the plays not been called back, so he had a nice game.”
Finally, the Dogies were awarded a safety when the Patriots snapped the ball over the head of the QB and it rolled out the back of the end zone for the last two points of the contest.
This week the Dogies have a challenge as they host the Big Horn Rams on Friday, who are currently ranked fifth in 2A.
“You want a challenge?” asked Conzelman. “Well, we’re going to see it this week. I would guess that they are more like a two or three team in reality. But, if we can keep it close and give ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter, it could be good.” 
Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m., and this contest is also the annual Pink Game for cancer awareness.