Adversity continues to pile on Dogies

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
  
Head coach Matt Conzelman reminisced this week about a win over Moorcroft a few years ago where his team really tore it up against the Wolves. Unfortunately, the Dogies found themselves getting payback for that game as the Bobcats of Thermopolis handed them a 67-16 loss last Friday on the road.
“We scored on our first four possessions against the Wolves and then blocked a punt and scored on that possession too that night,” Conzelman began. “Well, I was on the receiving end of that in Thermopolis.”
The Bobcats came out of the gate on a rampage and scored on their first three snaps. Each time they took possession of the ball, they executed one play, and they were in the end zone, and it didn’t matter their field possession. 
Thermopolis kept the Dogies on their heels the entire first quarter, closing out the first frame with a 21-0 lead.
Fortunately, Newcastle regained their footing a little in the second quarter and put together an offensive drive to get on the board. 
It began with a pass play from Slade Roberson to Bradyn Frye which was caught at the 50-yard line. The senior ran the ball down to the five before being stopped by the Bobcats. Two plays later Roberson connected with Frye again on a five yard pass for the touchdown. It was then Frye’s turn to go under center, and he found Chauncey Jenerou in the endzone for the two point conversion.
“It was a pretty sweet couple of plays,” Frye began with a smile. “I caught the first pass from Slade and then stiff-armed my defender down the field to the five. And then I made another pretty great catch for the touchdown.”
The Bobcats poured on the offensive attack again, however, and punched in 20 more points in the second quarter to go up 41-8 at the half.
“Right before half, they were driving on us, but I still felt good about going in 35-8 and we were making them work for every yard they were picking up,” Conzelman described. “There was four seconds left on the clock, they didn’t have any timeouts left, and they were on our 40. They ran a route to their main stud, and I was thinking that we just needed to keep him in front of us, tackle him and let the time run out.”
Unfortunately, the Dogie defender went for the pick and the ball sailed just over his fingertips into the hands of the receiver who was off to the races and into the endzone to go up another six points.
In the second half, the Dogies kept fighting and were able to hold Thermopolis to 13 points in the third and 13 points in the fourth quarters. Frye punched in another touchdown in the final frame of play with a 22-yard scamper into the endzone. He was then good again on a pass play to Roberson for the two point conversion.
Unfortunately, that would be the last goal for the Dogies on the night. A 67-16 loss was not what Conzelman and his crew were looking to finish with, however the coach was determined to come out of the game with some sort of positives for his team.
“You know, I just told the guys to be proud of what they were able to accomplish against a bigger, more experienced team,” he nodded. “We scored twice and converted both PAT attempts, and we held them to 26 total points in the second half after giving up 41 in the first.”  
Frye and Roberson were the work horses for the team as both racked up some impressive stats. Frye was the carrier for two touchdowns and successfully completed two two point conversion passes. The senior was also two for three on pass completions, had five receptions and was the man with the boot punting and kicking off throughout the contest.
Roberson was over 500 on the night connecting on 15 of his 28 pass attempts, one of which was for a touchdown. He also carried the ball nine times in the game and was on the receiving end of one of Frye’s passes.
Unfortunately, adversity continues to pile on the Dogies as the season wears on. This week as they look to their scheduled matchup against Burns on Friday, the squad will likely take the field with only one upperclassman as all of the juniors on the team are not expected to suit up for various reasons.
As Conzelman contemplated preparing his young squad for the challenge, he stressed the goals he has for the team at this time.
“I don’t care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game. I want us to go out and execute, play hard and do what we do,” he declared. “So if we play well, execute well on all three elements of the game — defense, offense and special teams — we will have done what we needed to do. If we’re behind at the end of the game, it is what it is and we can live with that.”