CHR
S
November 10, 2011
I The Lovell Chronicle 1 7
Bulldo
hold off Dogi
23
BY DAVID PECK
It was a festive, play-
off atmosphere at Robert-
son Stadium Friday night,
and the Lovell Bulldogs and
Newcastle Dogies engaged
in a classic gridiron bat-
tle that saw the Bulldogs
prevail 23-20 and advance
to the state championship
game for the first time since
2003.
The final score is a little
misleading as the Bulldogs
led 23-6 with four minutes
left in the game before a late
Dogie rally put a scare into
Bulldog fans, players and
coaches.
Even coach Doug Hazen
admitted he got a little ner-
vous in the final minute of
the game.
"To me, it wasn't as
close as the score shows -
until the last on-side kick
(following Newcastle's last
touchdown)," Hazen said.
"Then I felt the pressure. I
would have preferred our
guys to make a couple of
tackles inbounds and not al-
lowing them to score.
"Our 'prevent' defense
almost prevented us from
winning, but if we make a
couple of tackles inbounds,
the clock runs out."
Newcastle won the sta-
tistical battle, outgaining
the Bulldogs 359-206 in to-
tal yards, but the Bulldogs
were opportunistic on de-
fense, thwarting six New-
castle drives with turn-
overs - five interceptions
and one fumble. Sophomore
linebacker Dillon Pickett
snared three interceptions,
and Dino Collins and Mark
Grant had one pick each.
The Bulldogs were also
hampered by an early inju-
ry to top running back Dino
Collins who, ironically, was
hurt after intercepting a
pass on the third play of the
game, twisting his ankle on
DAVID PECK
Lovell senior cornerback Hunter Hinckley snares Newcastle running back/
quarterback J.T. Harper on a sweep right as junior linebacker Ryan Clark (33)
moves in for the hit during Lovell's 23-20 win over the Dogies Friday night at
Robertson Stadium. The Bulldogs take on Lyman Friday at noon in Laramie for
the state title.
the play. Collins came back
and played well, but wasn't
100 percent. Dimas Patina
did a good job in relief, as
well.
"We had five intercep-
tions and a number of pass
break-ups," Hazen said.
"And they were good. They
were a good team. I give
Newcastle a lot of credit.
There were not only a good
team, they fought all the
way to the end. They didn't
give up.
"That's a credit to their
coaching staff, as well as
their players."
The Lvell offense
struggled to move the ball
in the first quarter and most
of the fourth quarter but
scored three touchdowns
and a field goal in between.
Early, Hazen said, a lot of
it had to do with adjusting
to Collins' injury, and in
the fourth, the team was at-
tempting to eat up the clock.
"With Dino, we had a
certain game plan and then
right from the get-go we
couldn't do what we expect-
ed to do," he said. "It took us
a while to get adjusted. But
we also didn't make plays in
the first half. We dropped
some passes or a pass would
be off the fingertips.
"We didn't get ourselves
going like we had in the
past."
Collins' early intercep-
tion gave the Bulldogs the
ball at the Newcastle 10, but
they couldn't move the ball,
and Cody Savage's 30-yard
field goal was blocked. That
was it for offensive threats
in the first quarter as each
team punted after that.
The Dogies put togeth-
er their best drive of the
first half- 67 yards -- and
threatened early in the sec-
ond quarter, but Eli Moody
crushed Newcastle back
J.T. Harper on second and
six from the 20 and Col-
lin McArthur and McKay-
an May broke up passes on
consecutive plays as New-
castle gave the ball back to
the Bulldogs on downs.
The Bulldogs couldn't
move, but Savage boomed
a 68-yard punt that pinned
the Dogies back at their
own 17. They drove to the
37, but consecutive penal-
ties set them back to the 27
and Mitch Weigel's second-
and-20 pass was picked off
by Pickett.
Lovell drove to the 9,
and on third and three, May
was hit before the ball ar-
rived in the end zone on a
pass from Dylan Hultgren,
but there was no call. Sav-
age then knocked through a
26-yard field goal and Lovell
led 3-0.
The Bulldogs forced the
Dogies three and out, then
drove 44 yards to score fol-
lowing a short Dogie punt.
Patina got things going
with a 12-yard burst up the
middle, and Hultgren found
Hunter Hinckley for a 19-
yard pass down the right
sideline, where he held on
despite a hard hit. Patina
scored on an eight-yard run,
juking past defenders, and
Savage's PAT put Lovell up
10-0 late in the first half.
Trailing 10-0 at the
half, and kicking off to the
Bulldogs to start the second
half, the Dogies pulled off a
bold move, kicking what Ha-
zen described as a mortar
kick that lofted above the
first Lovell wall of blockers
as Newcastle players made
a beeline for the live football
and, after a scramble, recov-
ered the ball. With the mo-
mentum turned, Newcastle
drove 36 yards to score on
a one-yard run by Harper.
The Bulldogs blocked the
PAT, but Newcastle was in
the game, trailing 10-6.
The Bulldogs respond-
ed, driving 75 yards to score
thanks to hard running by
Patina and Collins and a
crisp, short passing game.
Collins scored from 10 yards
out on a sweep around left
end. The PAT was wide left,
but Lovell led 16-6.
A Newcastle fumble, re-
covered by AJ Montanez, set
up a 65-yard scoring drive
for the Bulldogs that culmi-
nated two minutes into the
fourth quarter with a touch-
down that put Lovell up 23-
6. Hultgren found Savage
slicing across the middle for
a 33-yard gain, then later
hit the tall end for a 17-yard
touchdown pass.
"One of the big reasons
we've had success this year
is that we've been able to re-
spond," Hazen said. "Teams
will make it close but we're
able to drive and extend
out lead. Those two drives
sealed the win for us."
The fourth period was
wild. Mark Grant intercept-
ed a Weigel pass to end the
first Newcastle threat, but
the Bulldogs couldn't move
and punted to the end zone.
Newcastle drove to the
Lovell 23 thanks, in part,
to an end-around pass from
Harper to Sean Williams,
See 'SEMI-FINAL' on
page 8
Bulldogs focus on Lyman rematch for 2A title game Friday
BY DAVID PECK
And then there was
one. After a long and so far
successful season the 10-0
and top-ranked Lovell Bull-
dogs have one more game to
play: Friday's Class 2A state
championship game against
the Lyman Eagles.
The game kicks off at
noon Friday at War Memori-
al Stadium in Laramie. Tick-
et prices are $11 for adults
and $8 for youths ages 3-18.
The tickets also cover the
Powell-Douglas game to fol-
low at 3 p.m. Tickets for all
five championship games are
$16 for adults and $11 for
youths.
All tickets are general
admission.
The Bulldogs will find
a formidable foe in the form
of the Lyman Eagles. Ly-
man is 9-1 on the season,
with their only loss coming
in week three at the hands
of the Bulldogs in Lovell, 21-
7, though they out-gained
Lovell in that game.
Lyman is actually 8-1
on the field. After a for-
feit win over Tongue River,
which cancelled its season,
the Eagles clobbered Kem-
merer 41-0, lost to Lovell 21-
7, shut out Big Piney 47-0,
beat Thermopolis 21-7, shut
out Mountain View 27-0,
crushed Pinedale 48-6 and
finished the regular season
with a 40-7 win over Grey-
bull. In the playoffs the Ea-
gles have whacked Big Horn
54-0 and edged Glenrock 22-
14 in Glenrock.
As a comparison, Lovell
beat Kemmerer 42-13, Big
Piney 55-6, Thermop 32-13,
Mountain View 21-19, Pine-
dale 54-0 and Greybull 24-13
- as well as the Eagles.
"They're a good foot-
ball team," coach Doug Ha-
zen said. "For sure they'll be
ready to play. It's revenge
DAVID PECK
Lovell senior lineman AJ Montanez happily carries fellow senior Brigham
Hopkin like a sack of potatoes following Loveil's dramatic 23-20 win over the
Newcastle Dogies Friday night. Now 10-0, the Bulldogs play for the state title
Friday in Laramie.
for them since their only loss
was to us."
Hazen said the Bulldogs
will have to defend Lyman's
wide-open offense. In Lovell's
homecoming win on Sept. 16,
the Eagles rushed for 209
yards and passed for 211, but
the Bulldogs also picked off
four passes and recovered a
fumble.
"They want to pass it.
They want to get the ball
downfield," Hazen said. "But
we have to stop the running
game first. Then we have to
stay deep and run with their
receivers and not blow cover-
ages. We need to get a pass
rush and keep the quarter-
back in the pocket. We're go-
ing to have to contain him."
In the Sept. 16 game,
Lovell took a 21-0 lead in the
first half on a 15-yard touch-
down pass from Dylan Hult-
gren to Cody Savage, a two-
yard run by Dino Collins
and a five-yard run by Mark
Grant.
The Bulldogs weren't as
crisp in the second half, twice
failing to convert in the red
zone, but the Bulldog defense
held the Eagles out of the end
zone after a third-quarter Ly-
man touchdown.
Heading into the finale,
Lovell averages 241 yards
per game rushing, Lyman
217, ranked second and third
in the Class 2A, respective-
ly. Lyman is the top pass-
ing team in the state, aver-
aging 201 yards per game.
The Bulldogs are fourth at
131 yards per game. Lyman
and Lovell are one and two in
team offense overall.
On the other side of the
ball, Lovell leads the state
in rushing defense, allowing
101 yards per game, while
Lyman is third, allowing 122
yards per game. Lyman al-
lows only 64 yards per game
passing, tops in the state,
while Lovell allows 114 yards
per game through the air -
but the Bulldogs have picked
off23 passes to lead the state,
Lyman 15. In team defense,
Lyman allows 186 yards per
game, Lovell 215.
Individually, Dino Col-
lins of the Bulldogs is third in
the state averaging 106 yards
per game on the ground and
has 15 touchdowns. Back-
up Dimas Patina averages
53 yards per game. Branson
Bradshaw (#44) leads Lyman
with 81.2 yards per game,
and Tui Magalogo (#6) aver-
ages 67 yards per game.
Lyman's Wade Eyre
(#13) and Lovell's Dylan
Hultgren are the top two
passers in the state, averag-
ing 178 and 132 yards per
game, respectively. Eyre has
completed 63 percent of his
passes for 1,784 yards, with
23 touchdowns and 10 inter-
ceptions. Hultgren has com-
pleted 68 percent of his pass-
es for 1,320 yards and has 13
touchdowns and just four in-
terceptions.
Cisco Taylor (#1) is Ey-
re's go-to receiver, catching
49 passes this season, with
12 touchdowns, and Gabe
Holstrom (#7) has 34 recep-
tions and seven toughdowns.
Cody Savage has caught 41
passes for the Bulldogs and
has scored three touchdowns.
The game will be the fi-
nal contest for Lovell seniors
Steven Pickett (injured), PJ
Blankenship, Adam Beck,
McKayan May, Collin McAr-
thur, Dimas Patina, Brigham
Hopkin, Cody Clark, Eli
Moody, Garrett Angell, AJ
Montanez, Mark Grant,
Hunter Hinckley and Ritch
McCollam.
If the Bulldogs prevail
Friday, it will be just the
school's second state football
title. The Bulldogs won it all
in 1987, defeating Pinedale
in the first round, 20-7, then
topping Upton 14-6 in the
championship game.
The last time the Bull-
dogs reached the champion-
ship game was in 2003.
PEP BUS PLANNED
Lovell Principal Scott
O'Tremba said the school, at
the request of students, will
be sending a pep or spirit bus
to Laramie Friday. The bus
will depart at 4 a.m. Friday,
and tickets seats are $5 each.
He said the available seats
are for students first, then
parents of participants, then
parents of any student, in
that order.
The school was able to
plan the spirit bus since
there was a week to make ar-
rangements, he noted.
The football team will
leave around 8 a.m. Thurs-
day and practice at Casper
Natrona en route, Athletic
Director Joe Koritnik said. A
bus carrying the band, dance
team and cheerleaders will
depart at noon Thursday, he
said.
All three buses will re-
turn to Lovell Friday night,
departing Laramie around 4
p.m., Koritnik said.
TCT West will broad-
cast the game on Friday,
O'Tremba and Koritnik said.
As of Tuesday, the Na-
tional Weather Service fore-
cast for Laramie was calling
for sunny and breezy, with a
high near 47.
FOOTBALL PLAYOFF
RESULTS
Class 2A
Football Playoffs
Friday, Oct. 28
Lyman 54, Big Horn 0
Lovell 43, Burns 6
Saturday, Oct. 29
Glenrock 22, Kemmerer 11
Newcastle 28, Thermop 0
Round Two
Friday, Nov. 4
Lovell 23, Newcastle 20
Lyman 22, Glenrock 14
Championship
War Memorial Stadium
Laramie
Friday, Nov. 11
Lovell vs. Lyman, noon
