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By Candie Fix
Managing Editor 

Bulldogs take 66-0 road win at South Park

 

September 1, 2021



Gridiron action is underway and the Haxtun Bulldogs came out hot in their season opener. The Bulldogs traveled over 400 miles to kick off the 2021 season in what turned out to be a 66-0 stomping of the South Park Burros. Haxtun will face off with West Grand and Wiley over the next two weeks before league play begins on Sept. 18.

Michael Gerk’s ground game led the Bulldogs through most of the first quarter as the junior running back snuck in three unanswered touchdowns to give Haxtun an early lead. His counterpart Isaac Andersen did his part by adding six points to the board from two-point conversions on all three of Gerk’s trips to the end zone. Before the end of the first, Andersen added a 35-yard touchdown of his own followed by another from quarterback Owen Knode giving the Bulldogs a 36-0 advantage after just one quarter.

Gerk opened the second with a 68-yard run for his fourth touchdown of the day followed by a two-point conversion from freshman Grant Statz. Ryland Wolff found an opening for a 60-yard punt return just before half time to put Haxtun up 50-0 at the half.

With a 50-point advantage going into the second half, Haxtun took advantage of a running clock but continued with the offensive pressure. Senior Ashton Ayala made his way into the end zone in the third quarter followed by a successful conversion from Statz. Just before the final buzzer, Kailin Kelley found an opening for a 59-yard rushing touchdown to seal the deal, 66-0.

“The boys worked extremely hard all summer and it showed on Saturday,” Head Coach JD Stone said of his team’s outing Saturday. “Our linemen on both sides of the ball were dominant along with our defense. South Park had a combined -18 yards of offense.”

Haxtun racked up 403 yards on the ground Saturday led by Gerk with 237. He averaged 39.5 yards per carry with a long of 83 and four touchdowns. Kelley totaled 73 rushing yards from two carries followed by Andersen with four carries for 51 yards. Wolff carried the ball twice for 21 yards in addition to a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Defensively, Statz led the Bulldogs with 10 tackles including five solo and five assisted. Kelley registered two solo and four assisted tackles for a total of six. Andersen added five tackles on the day, three solo and two assisted. Osman Coss, Gage Helgoth, Ryan Davis and Tate Michael each tallied four total tackles on the day.

As a team, the Bulldogs sacked the Burro quarterback five times Saturday afternoon; Mason Bornhoft, Keegan Colglazier, Coss, Andersen and Michael each tallied a sack.

“I was so proud of our junior varsity who played two of the four quarters and outscored South Park 30-0,” Stone added.

This week the Bulldogs are set to host the West Grand Mustangs from Kremmling in a 6 p.m. contest at Adam Wernsman Field. According to Maxpreps, the Mustangs lost their season opener with Calhan 56-14 last week.

 

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