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

The Haxtun Bulldogs improved to 4-0 on the season while outscoring their two opponents by a combined 61 points in contests last weekend. Haxtun notched wins over Sedgwick County and Caliche to hold onto the top spot in Colorado 1A rankings and remain undefeated.

"These first few weeks of the season have gone fast," said Head Coach Jayden Stieb. "We're getting as much done in practice as we can but when it comes down to it the game experience is better than any practice we can have. The boys have done well picking up where they left off in football."

Haxtun traveled to Julesburg on Friday night to take on Sedgwick County, a fellow Lower Platte League team. The Bulldogs took the advantage early in the first half and remained on top to run away with a 44-32 win over the Cougars.

Junior Maclin Tempel put up double-digits on the road Friday, adding 19 points on the board for the Bulldogs. Senior David Avery scord eight points followed by senior Owen Knode with six and junior Michael Gerk with four.

The following night, Haxtun took the court at home in a match up with the Buffs from Caliche, Stieb's alma matter.

Haxtun put the pressure on in the first quarter, taking an early advantage and pushing the ball up the court in a fast paced game to roll to an 89-40 victory. Five Bulldogs hit double-digits against the Buffs with Avery leading the pack with 18 total. Knode put up 16 points followed by senior Alex Farrell with 11 and Tempel and senior Isaac Andersen, each with 10 points on the night.

"The boys played much better defense this past week than in the opening week," said Stieb. "A lot of that has to do with being in better basketball shape and having more energy on the defensive end. We also shot better, especially against Caliche. Hopefully shots will continue to fall as the season goes on."

Adding two wins to an undefeated record thus far in the season leaves the Bulldogs as one of three teams in LPAA team standings who remain unbeaten. Haxtun, Holyoke and Yuma all boast 4-0 records as of Tuesday morning but that will change this week as the Bulldogs take on the Dragons in one of two final outings before holiday break.

The Bulldogs were set to face off with the Dragons on Tuesday evening in Holyoke. This Thursday, they will host Peetz in the final contest before Christmas break begins.

According to Maxpreps, Peetz holds a 1-3 record, the team's one win came over Lone Star last week.

"Heading into the break we're going to focus on cleaning things up on the offensive end of the floor. Our execution on offensive has been sloppy at times and that tends to throw the pace we want play at off," Stieb said.