Huskers shuck Bulldogs 35 – 6

The Lafayette County Huskers jumped out to an early lead and defeated the Bulldogs 35-6 on Friday night on the home field..

The Huskers started the night with the ball after they covered an onside kick attempt by the Bulldogs. On their 5th play of the game they scored on a 42-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead.

The Bulldogs returned the ensuing kick to their own 31 and their first drive ended as ElDo went for it on 4th and 1 and fell an inch short.

Lafayette County then put together a 12-play drive but failed to score a touchdown and gave the Bulldogs the ball on downs. On the first play of the ElDo drive, Dayton Austin ran for 15 yards making it to the Bulldogs 26-yard line. The Bulldogs ran one more play and the first quarter came to a close with El Dorado Springs trailing 0-7.

Starting the second quarter, the Husker defense stuffed the Bulldogs forcing ElDo to punt. On the punt, the Husker returner ran the ball in for the second touchdown of the night giving Lafayette County a 15-0 lead.

On the second play of ElDo’s next drive, a pass bounced off of a Bulldog reciever’s hands and was picked off by a Husker defender. Ten plays later, the Husker’s were in the end zone again taking a 22-0 lead.

The Bulldogs began their next possession at their own 20-yard line with time running out in the first half. Trenton Hardie broke free for a 31-yard run, which was followed by Riley Boyd spiking the ball to stop the clock. Boyd hit Trey Babcock on the next play for a 12-yard pass as the half came to a close.

In the third quarter neither team managed to move the ball effectively and the quarter came to a close with Lafayette County still leading 22-0.

In the fourth quarter, the Huskers only needed two plays of offense to score and take a 28-0 lead.

The next El Dorado Springs drive began at their own 33-yard line. The Bulldogs put together a seven play drive, highlighted by a 10-yard run by Shane Trowbridge and a 16-yard run by Austin that was capped off with a 37-yard pass from Boyd to Jake Schieffer to get the Bulldogs on the board 28-6.

The Huskers responded with a four-play drive that ended with a 32-yard touchdown run to put Lafayette County up 35-6.

The Bulldogs put together one last drive that ran out of time at the Husker 11, ending the game 35-6.

Coach Scroggins said, “We knew coming into this game that Lafayette County was going to be tough. Offensively, we were one play away from something big happening multiple times but struggled to break loose early on. Defensively, I think we played pretty well. There were times that we were tackling too high but got saved because we were tackling in bunches. We had a few bad breaks and made some mistakes that you can’t make against a good team like Lafayette County. I think we took a good step in the right direction and we need to keep getting better.”

El Dorado Springs next hosts Slater High School this Friday at 7 p.m.

On offense, Riley Boyd attempted nine passes, completed three for 54 yards  one of them for a TD and was intercepted once. Jake Schieffer caught one for a 37 yard TD, Trenton Hardie caught one for five yards and Trey Backcock caught one for 12 yards.

Rushing, the Bulldogs gained 172 yards on 37 attempts. Dayton Austin ran the ball 10 times gaining 59 yards. QB Riley Boyd rushed four times for nine yards. Ethan Dubois ran four times for eight yards. Trenton Hardie carried the ball 14 times for 71 yards. Shane Trowbridge rushed five times for 25 yards.

On defense, Kelian Jaques had four solo tackles, assisted on 12, had six TFL (tackle for loss) and two sacks. Ethan Dubois made three solo tackles and assisted on 15 and was part of 2.5 TFL. Dayton Austin had three solo tackles, 12 assists and two sacks. Shelby McKinney assisted on seven tackles and was credited with half a TFL and half a sack. Blake Holder  made one solo tackle, assisted on nine and was credited with 1.5 TFL. Trey Babcock had one solo tackle and assisted on 10. Riley Boyd made three tackles and assisted on one. Jordan Gallette assisted on eight. Wyatt Graves helped on seven tackles. Colton Collins assisted on one tackle. Dakota Long assisted on a TFL. Jake Schieffer made one tackle and assisted on two.

PLAYER CRASH – Husker player No. 9 evidently bought the fake by Bulldog Running Back Trenton Hardie (29), who carried the ball a lot, so Senior Bulldog Outside Linebacker Nate Marsh (55) kept him off Hardie’s back coming off the turf and shutting his eyes for the collision.

ON THE RUN – Junior Bulldog Running Back Trenton Hardie (29), the Bulldogs leading rusher Friday night, on one of his 14 attempts that gained 71 yards. He is led by Junior Outside Linebacker Wyatt Graves (50).