Bulldogs even record at Roland-Story

STORY CITY — Scores on the ground, in the air and on special teams as well as forcing seven turnovers helped the Bulldog football team to a 21-0 road win against Roland-Story on Friday, Oct. 2.

Coach Andy Bruemmer’s squad improved to 3-3 and will go for a winning record for the first time since 2015 when the Bulldogs last made the playoffs.

“We played really well,” Bruemmer said. “They finished some drives, they made some big plays when we needed big plays. I can’t say enough about our defensive front, we had a shutout.

“That team has got weapons, and our defense, coach (Jeromy) Keehn did a great job on the shutout and I can’t be prouder of them.”

After exchanging possessions to start the game, Roland-Story had an 11-play drive that ended on four straight pass incompletions by quarterback Quin Ante.

From there, the Bulldogs marched 75 yards in 14 plays that was capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Bryan Flores with 17 seconds left in the first quarter. The kick was blocked, but the visitors had the lead for good.

Another sustained drive by the Norsemen ended with the first of seven turnovers by the Bulldogs, an interception by Jordan Severs, who returned the ball 10 yards.

“We were ball hawks tonight,” Bruemmer said.

Another change of possessions culminated when Roland-Story attempted its second punt of the game, in which Mario De La Cruz got a partial block on Jimmy Phillipsen and Severs weaved his way for an 83-yard touchdown return.

Leading 14-0 at halftime, the Bulldogs had a chance to extend the lead on a 28-yard field goal attempt, but that was thwarted on a false start penalty and then Cal Heeren’s pass was intercepted in the end zone.

The Norse’s next possession ended when De La Cruz intercepted Ante six plays later; however, the Bulldogs went three-and-out.

One play later, Zach DeVries recovered Ante’s fumble. DeVries collected two recoveries.

In prime position to score, the Bulldogs went backwards and turned the ball over on downs.

While trading possessions a few more times, Logan Pfeffer intercepted Ante for a 24-yard return that set up the final score for the Bulldogs on the night, a 19-yard pass from Heeren to Will Sackville. 

“We’re trying to get more kids involved with different formations,” Bruemmer said. “We’re also working on getting good balance with the pass. We want to be able to run the ball, and we went back to doing some good old mental practice.”

Heeren was 13-of-30 passing for 121 yards, a touchdown and interception.

“I think that helped us that we’re blocking the right person,” Bruemmer said. “Because if you’re not blocking the right person, our film last week showed everybody blocked the right guy except for one guy and it was somebody different every single time.

“So, we just said, ‘we are going to stop, go back, re-teach, see if we get better.’”

Putting a damper on the win was an injury to senior Elias Cortez late in the fourth quarter. Bruemmer said he was unsure of Cortez's status, who had to be taken away on an ambulance.

“I’m going to see if I can find a ride down to the hospital and check on him,” Bruemmer said after. “It’s only 10 minutes down the road.”

Standing in the way of the Bulldogs’ shot at a winning record for the first time in five years is Forest City (2-2), a team that like Roland-Story, hasn’t played for the past few weeks because of COVID-19 exposure.

It is also the Bulldogs’ homecoming contest.

“Big night, Forest City is coming to town and they are a really good football team,” Bruemmer said. “A lot of explosive weapons, their running back is one of the best in the district. We’re really going to have to show up and play some football.”

Bulldogs 21

Roland-Story 0

H-D              6       8       0       7        -     21

R-Story      0       0       0       0        -       0

TEAM STATISTICS

                                            H-D            R-S

First downs                              9              14

Rushes-yards                   29-67         20-51

Passing                               121            221

Comp-att-int                  13-30-1      19-46-3

Punts-avg.                          8-35           3-26

Fumbles-lost                         2-0             3-3

Penalties-yards                   9-75           1-15

Scoring summary

First quarter

H-D — Bryan Flores 1 run. (kick blocked) 0:17.7

Second quarter

H-D — Jordan Severs 83 punt return. (Severs pass from Cal Heeren) 0:07

Fourth quarter

H-D — Will Sackville 19 pass from Heeren (Severs kick) 1:48

Rushing (Att-Tot-TD) — H-D (Logan Pfeffer 13-38-0, Bryan Flores 10-27-1, Mario De La Cruz 1-6-0, Max O’Dell 2-1-0, Cal Heeren 3-(5)-0.

Passing (Att-Comp-Yds-TD-INT) – H-D (Heeren 13-30-121-1-1).

Receiving (Catch-Yds-TD) — H-D (Max O’Dell 2-28-0, Mario De La Cruz 2-20-0, Marco Guerrero 1-20-0, Will Sackville 1-19-1, Tate Schmitt 1-13-0, Jordan Severs 2-10-0, Pfeffer 2-4-0, Zayden Erdman 1-4-0, Benji Sauke 1-4-0).

Tackles (Solo-Tot-TFL) — H-D (Guerrero 4-5.5-0, De La Cruz 4-5-0, Zach DeVries 5-5-1, David Cornejo 3-4.5-1, Cole Freerks 2-3.5-0, Kale Folkerts 3-3.5-0, Flores 3-3-0, Severs 2-3-0, Elias Cortez 3-3-1, Schmitt 2-3-0).

Sacks — H-D (DeVries).

Fumble recoveries — H-D (DeVries 2, Folkerts, Payton McNealy).

Interceptions — H-D (Pfeffer 1-24, Severs 1-10, De La Cruz 1-2).

Kick returns — H-D (Guerrero 1-20).

Punt returns — H-D (Severs 1-81-1, Guerrero 1-20-0).

Kickoffs — H-D (Severs 2-40, Heeren 1-26, Edwin Sanchez 1-15).

Punting — H-D (Severs 8-280).