Cowboys Have Shootout With Bulldogs

North Gem made a familiar road trip to district rival Rockland last Friday for a shot at the district title.  With the Cowboys facing a three way tie for the district championship they would not only need to win but would need to win by twenty-one points to win the tiebreaker.  As the game progressed it became very competitive and kept its viewers on the edge of their seats.

The game started with the Cowboys kicking off to the Bulldogs.  The Bulldogs moved quickly down the field and put the points on the board taking the early lead 8-0.  The Cowboys were not intimidated by the quick score by any means.  North Gem took the ensuing possession and immediately went to their bread and butter of running the ball.  The Cowboys took their opening drive and matched the Bulldogs with a score of their own by way of a Yost run.  Rockland, with their different style of offense of spreading out and throwing the ball, scored on their next possession on a quarterback draw and the first quarter came to an end with the Bulldogs leading 14-8.

North Gem grabbed some momentum early in the second quarter continuing with their power run game and took the lead with a Hatch run up the middle.  The Cowboys with a 16-14 lead were the first team to make a defensive stand on the following drive.  The Cowboys held the Bulldogs on a fourth down attempt forcing a turnover on downs near midfield.  The Cowboys took advantage of the short field and extended their lead on another Hatch run to 22-14.  It appeared as if the Cowboys were in control of the game at this point with only four and a half minutes left in the first half.  Unfortunately the wheels would fall off for the rest of the first half.  The Bulldogs grabbed the momentum back taking less than a minute to score on their drive and closing the gap to 22-20.  The Cowboy defense continued to apply good pressure to the quarterback but were never quite able to get there.  Following the Bulldog score Rockland executed a successful onside kick.  Again the Cowboy defense kept the pressure on but just had the Bulldog quarterback slip through their fingers.  Rockland was able to add another score and regain the lead 26-22 with just thirty-seven seconds left in the first hand.  The hits were not over for the Cowboys in the first half.  On their first play after the kickoff the Cowboys threw an interception and the Bulldogs added one more score in the closing seconds of the half taking a 32-22 lead into the locker room. 

The second half started off with a bang for the Cowboys when running back Yost took the ball sixty-five yards for a score closing the gap to 32-30.  Rockland was able to answer back in fairly quick fashion and the lead went back to 38-30 in favor of the Bulldogs.  The Cowboys faced some more adversity on the next drive when the Bulldogs stripped the ball from the runner causing a turnover.  The Bulldogs slowed down their offense on this drive and eventually added another score stretching the lead to 44-30 to close out the third quarter.  

The Cowboys scored early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to a one score game but temporarily lost one of its key players, Haydn Frandsen on the play.  With Frandsen out of the game the younger Welker stepped into the game with him and the rest of the Cowboy defense fighting hard to slow down the Rockland offense.  However the Bulldogs were able to punch in another score extending the lead to 52-38 with time starting to get short for the Cowboys.  Showing some real grit Frandsen reentered the game and helped the Cowboys drive down the field to answer the Bulldog score with one of their own.  Now trailing 52-44 with just under three minutes left in the game the Cowboys made the decision to attempt an onside kick.  The kick popped up in the air just how you would want it but that was the limit to the execution of the attempt.  The Bulldogs plucked the kick out of the air and slipped past the Cowboy kick team for a fifty yard touchdown driving a dagger to the hearts of the Cowboy faithful.  A last ditch hail mary pass was intercepted and the Cowboys lost the shootout 60-44.

Despite the loss the Cowboys season will continue as they have qualified for the playoffs.  Their opponent will be the Tri-Valley Titans.