Haxtun falls to 1-3 with Saturday's home loss to Merino Rams

The Haxtun Bulldogs fell to 1-2 in the Plains League following a loss to the Merino Rams at home on Saturday afternoon. Dropping to the Rams leaves the Bulldogs at 1-3 overall with two games left on the already short schedule, both conference contests in the 8-man league.

Merino entered Saturday's match up with Haxtun as one of two teams with an undefeated record in the Plains League four weeks into the season. The Rams scored early in the first quarter, putting up six points just seconds after kickoff. Haxtun's defense held the team out of the end zone on the two-point conversion attempt to keep the score 6-0. With under two minutes left in the first, both teams found the end zone, Merino first with a short rushing touchdown and again the Bulldogs' defense held the team out on the extra two. Exactly one minute later, Haxtun's Ozzy Coss found a gap for a rushing touchdown to put the Bulldogs on the board with six. The Bulldogs failed on the two-point conversion, finding themselves down by six heading into the second quarter.

The visiting Rams added two touchdowns before half time to take a 28-6 advantage at the half.

Just four minutes into the third quarter, Haxtun's Michael Gerk found junior David Avery open for a five-yard pass and the Bulldogs' second touchdown of the game. The Bulldogs again came up short on the two points after but narrowed in on the scoring gap making it 28-12. The end of the third quarter brought on two more Ram touchdowns to give the visiting team a 42-12 lead headed into the fourth.

Scoring slowed in the final quarter until Merino capitalized on a safety with just a minute and a half left to go in the contest. The Rams ran away with a 44-12 win to keep their undefeated streak alive.

The Bulldogs completed a total of 45 plays in Saturday's contest, including nine first downs against the Rams. Quarterback Owen Knode connected with six of 16 passes for a total of 60 yards Saturday. Gerk took a snap for the Bulldogs, connecting for a five-yard-touchdown pass.

Coss led on the ground with 73 rushing yards from 12 carries. Knode tallied 33 yards followed by Gerk with 16. In the air, Avery led the Bulldogs with three catches for 30 yards. Kyle Fryrear tallied 19 yards off one catch followed by Gerk with three receptions for 16 yards.

Knode led his team on defense, racking up 20 tackles, 10 solo and 10 assisted. Gerk had five solo tackles and nine assisted for a total of 14 on the day. Ryan Tempel tallied 12 total tackles followed by Fryrear and Gehrig Thompson, each with 11. Tempel also recorded one sack on the Merino quarterback for a loss of three yards.

This week the Bulldog team is set to face off against the 1-2 Akron Rams at Adam Wernsman Field Saturday afternoon. According to Maxpreps, the Rams suffered losses to Crowley County and Sedgwick County early in their season and recently defeated Caliche 32-14.

The match up with Akron will feature parents' night for Bulldog football players. The Haxtun football team also plans to honor past State Championship teams from 1990 and 2000. Kick off in Haxtun is set for 1 p.m.