The Alliance Bulldogs kicked off their season with an away game against Chase County on August 26, where they took on the Longhorns.
The first quarter of the game went scoreless, then Chase County came out with two touchdowns in the second quarter, making it 14-0 going into halftime.
The Bulldogs came out of the locker room for the third quarter putting eight points on the board, but the Longhorns scored another two touchdowns making the game 28-8. The Bulldogs needed some big plays to make a comeback for the fourth quarter, but ended up scoring zero to the Longhorns’ seven, making the final score of the game 35-8 with the Longhorns taking the victory.
The Bulldogs prepared for their first game by watching film and reviewing each player’s assignments.
“We just made sure that everyone knew their assignments based on what we had seen on film from the year before. That was our main focus, and our guys were doing a good job with their roles and responsibilities,” said Head Coach Chris Seebohm.
Two-a-day practices have seemed like a thing of the past for Bulldog football this year as they did not participate in them due to a required heat acclimation period that was enforced.
“We actually don’t have them anymore. There is a required heat acclimation period that athletes have to go, but we’ve been through it enough years now that everyone is used to it. We were still able to get everything that we needed in for our first game,” said Seebohm.
The offensive side of things for the Bulldogs saw two good drives early in the game, but they ended up stalling out in the Longhorns’ territory. Tyzen Brown had some good scrambles for gain but ended up going out after an injury and being replaced by Landen Crowe.
“Landen Crowe did a great job coming in and relieving him after an injury,” said Seebohm.
Carson Bair ran the ball well at times and Tristen Timbers had some big gains on the short passes.
Defensively the Bulldogs forced four turnovers; one of the turnovers was a pick six by Eli Blanco.
“I knew the game wasn’t over, so I knew I had to keep playing as hard as I could,” said Blanco.
The Bulldogs stayed physical on defense despite the size of the Longhorns’ backfield.
“We were physical despite the size of their backfield and our defense swarmed the ball well,” said Seebohm.
After the loss to the Longhorns the Bulldogs will continue to work on tackling and their angles on defense and finishing their drives on offense.
“Momentum is a huge factor in sports, and we could’ve gained an edge early with a couple of scores. Chase County didn’t do much of anything that they showed on film last year. Our guys adjusted very well to seeing something new, and I was very proud of them for that,” said Seebohm.
The Bulldogs are preparing to face off against Gordon-Rushville on Friday night.
“It’s a brand new week with a new set of opportunities and challenges. It will be great being home for the first time with our crowd in the stands and our guys will be ready to go. We just need to continue to improve in the areas that need it, and keep building on the things that we were successful doing last Friday. If we do that, we will be in good shape,” said Seebohm.