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

Just one regular season game remains on the Haxtun Bulldog's football schedule as this week brings on a highly anticipated Lower Platte League match up with the Bulldogs and Rams from Merino.

Last week, Haxtun continued their undefeated streak with a 56-6 taming of the Cougars from Sedgwick County on Saturday. The Bulldogs are one of five teams in Colorado 8-man action with an unblemished record this far into the 2022 season; other teams in that category include Simla, Lyons, Crowley County and Dove Creek.

Haxtun opened Saturday's action with a mid-first quarter touchdown run from quarterback Ryland Wolff to put the first six points on the scoreboard at Adam Wernsman field in Haxtun. Wolff kept the ball for the two-point conversion make it 8-0 early in the contest. Shortly after, Kailin Kelley found a gap for a 30-yard touchdown run to add another six to the score. A Wolff handoff to Michael Gerk and a short pass to Maclin Tempel into the end zone added two more points to the Bulldogs advantage to put the home team up by 16 after the first quarter.

The Bulldogs amped up the pressure in the second quarter, first with a 59-yard touchdown run from Gerk followed by the two-point conversion after. Wolff went on to connect with Gerk again with a 25-yard pass for a mid-second quarter touchdown and later found an opening for a 19-yard run for his second rushing TD of the game to leave the score 36-0 at the half.

Early in the third, Kelley got the call for a short, five-yard touchdown and Wolff connected with Gerk in the end zone for the two points after to force a running clock for the remainder of the game. Sedgwick County put their only six points on the board with just second left on the clock in the third by means of a 15-yard run.

The Bulldogs added two more touchdowns, both from Kelley, in the final quarter of the game to take the 50-point win over the fellow Lower Platte League team Sedgwick County.

Offensively the Bulldogs completed 46 plays in Saturday's contest including 17 first downs. Under center of Haxtun's offense, quarterback Wolff connected with seven of 11 passes for 164 yards against the Cougars including one TD in the air. He averaged 23.4 yards per pass on Saturday.

Kyle Fryrear caught three passes for 105 yards with an average of 35 yards per catch. Gerk caught one pass for 35 yards, resulting in a touchdown, while Kelley caught two passes for 30 yards.

On the ground, Kelley led the Bulldogs with 152 yards and four touchdowns. He averaged 13.8 yards per carry. Gerk registered 111 yards from nine carries and one touchdown. Gerk averaged 12.3 yards per carry. Wolff kept the ball 10 times for 79 yard and two rushing touchdowns.

Keegan Colglazier, Wolff, Tempel and Kelley combined for a total of 47 of the teams 71 tackles against the Cougars. Tempel led the charge with 14 followed by Colglazier with 12, Kelley with 11 and Wolff with 10. Colglazier and Tempel each had one sack on Sedgwick County's quarterback. Fryrear came up with one interception on the day while Kaiden Schelling and Tempel each deflected a pass off the hands of the Cougars quarterback.

Friday night's action on the road in Merino is set for 7:30 p.m. The Rams are currently 5-3 overall and 3-1 in league play. Last week the Rams suffered a 26-15 loss to Akron.