Bulldogs Offense Erupts in Victory over Huskies

OELWEIN - The Hampton-Dumont-CAL (HDCAL) football team picked up a 63-19 victory in a road game over the Oelwein Huskies on Friday, September 26. The Bulldogs offense had a monster game, accumulating 511 yards of total offense, with 199 passing yards and 312 rushing yards. Bulldogs' head coach Cole Miller was pleased with how much the offense produced in the game.

"The offense did a great job," Miller said. "Blaek was really efficient, he didn't miss on many passes and once he was able to distribute the ball to our play makers on the outside, they were able to catch the ball and make some moves to pick up yardage. A lot of guys got into the mix and were able to get some touches, and we were also productive in the ground game."

The Huskies scored first, but the Bulldogs immediately responded with a 29-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Blaek Burmester to senior Brody Strother. After the Huskies regained the lead, the Bulldogs responded quickly again with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Burmester to senior Aaden Keehn, to give HDCAL their first lead of the game at 14-13. The Bulldogs never looked back, as they scored three touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 35-13 lead into halftime.

The Bulldogs' offense continued to dominate in the second half, putting up 21 points in the third quarter, while only giving up six points. The Bulldogs added one more score for good measure in the fourth quarter to put the finishing touches on a 63-19 victory. Burmester went 9-for-14 passing with 199 yards and two passing touchdowns. Senior and Iowa State football commit Brady Harr was the Bulldogs' leading receiver with 85 receiving yards on five catches. Senior Jacob Mahler had a big day on the ground, leading the Bulldogs with 134 rushing yards on 18 carries and four rushing touchdowns. Seniors Ryder Strother, Caden Woods and Carter Arends also recorded a rushing touchdown. Junior Hunter Rieken was a perfect nine-for-nine on extra points. Defensively, Rieken also recorded the only Bulldogs' interception of the game. Caden Woods and Ryder Strohter led the Bulldogs with eight total tackles each, while Beady Harr led the team with 3.5 tackles for loss. Coach Miller was proud of how his team bounced back after a heart-breaking loss to Vinton-Shellsburg the week before.

"The win was defiantly good morale-wise," he said. "We had some leaders that really stepped up and made sure they were reaching out to guys who maybe felt like it was their fault we lost the week before. They were upbeat in practice all week and really brought the energy and urgency."

The win improves the Bulldogs' record to 2-3 on the season and 1-1 in district play. The Bulldogs' next game is on Friday, October 3 when they play on the road at Denver at 7 p.m.