The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

It was a cold one, bitter cold, but that didn't stop the Bulldogs from showing up against the Sedgwick County Cougars on Friday night. Despite dropping to 1-2 with a 60-14 loss to the five-time defending state champion team, the Bulldogs did put up the most points against Sedgwick County than any other team has in over a year.

It's been a solid 12-months since any other team put up 14 points against the Cougars, that time from the Dayspring Christian Eagles when they suffered a 56-16 loss early in the 2019 season. In fact, over the past two seasons, putting up 14 points against the power-house team is something only two other teams have accomplished and it's the most amount of points any team has scored on the Cougars so far this season. Not bad from a young Bulldog team with only two seniors on the roaster and two starters out due to injury.

Sedgwick County won the coin toss in Haxtun Friday night but elected to defer the ball to the Bulldogs. Despite several attempts to move the ball down field, Haxtun gave up their first possession on downs as junior Owen Knode punted into the north end zone. The visiting team capitalized on their first possession, scoring six points with a four-yard touchdown run followed by a successful two-point conversion. The Bulldogs took their second possession of the first quarter, but struggled to find an offensive rhythm again forcing Knode to punt the ball away. It wasn't long and the Cougars were in the end zone again, inching away with the lead. The Bulldogs made a solid drive down field as Knode connected in the air with David Avery but the very next play the home team gave the ball up on a fumble. As luck would have it, Sedgwick County did the same just two plays later and Haxtun was able to utilize the turnover with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Knode to Michael Gerk to put the Bulldogs on the board with just two seconds left in the first.

Shortly into the second quarter, Sedgwick added another six to the board as the Bulldog defense held their opponent out of the end zone on the two-point after attempt. Less than three minutes later, a Bulldog fumble resulted in a 75-yard Cougar run and another touchdown. The Cougars led at the half, 36-6.

The Bulldogs opened the second half with another Knode pass to Gerk for a 43-yard touchdown that would give the home team some spark with the addition of the two-points to follow. Unfortunately, the Cougars amped up the pressure, going on to add 24 unanswered points throughout the remainder of the third and the fourth quarters for a 60-14 win in Haxtun Friday night.

The Bulldogs completed 62 total plays against Sedgwick County, including 12 first downs.

In the air, Knode connected with 13 of 29 passes for 248 yards. Gerk and Avery were on the receiving end of all those passes; Gerk with 135 yards in the air and Avery with 113.

On the ground, Gerk tallied 23 yards from eight carries followed by Ozzy Coss with 20 yards from 14 carries.

Kyle Fryrear had a standout night on defense, racking up 12 tackles on the night, eight solo and four assisted. Knode tallied five solo tackles and three assists for a total of eight. Coss also had eight, one solo with seven assists. Ryan Tempel added six total tackles followed by Gerk and Kailin Kelley, each with five.

This week the Bulldogs are set to face off in a conference battle with the Rams from Merino on Saturday, Halloween, in a 1 p.m. match up at Adam Wernsman Field.

According to Maxpreps, the Rams are currently 3-0 with wins over Wiley, Caliche and Dayspring Christian Academy so far this season.

The Rams recently faced off with the Eagles from Dayspring Christian Academy where they took a 44-30 win. Haxtun, too, has defeated the Eagles this season.

After facing off with the Rams, Haxtun will take on Akron at home and Caliche on the road before post-season play begins.