Bulldogs fall behind early in loss to Humboldt

HAMPTON—- The Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldogs football team was unable to comeback from an early deficit as the team lost to the Humboldt Wildcats 28-10 at home on Sept. 27. The Bulldogs are now 2-3 on the year following the loss.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and then made it a 21-3 lead at halftime. Ryder Strother scored the Bulldogs lone touchdown with a touchdown run in the third quarter to make it 21-10 late in the third quarter. But the Wildcats pulled away with another score to make it 28-10 after the third quarter and neither team scored in the final quarter.

Head coach Cole Miller said that with the team going through a rough stretch the last couple of weeks that the young team can lean on the upperclassmen’s leadership.

“We have some good leaders in that senior class though,” Miller said. “Guys who have been through rough stretches before and have had to fight back to give themselves an opportunity to make the playoffs. I hope we are learning from that leadership.”

On defense, the Bulldogs gave up 173 passing yards on 13-for-16 attempts and two passing touchdowns while also giving up 85 rushing yards on 21 carries and two rushing touchdowns. The Bulldogs had three sacks in the game as a team and seven tackles for a loss. Strother had 4.5 total tackles including one tackle for a loss and one sack. Taylor Mahler had 3.5 total tackles including three tackles for a loss and two sacks. Brody Storther and Colin Bird both had 5.5 total tackles each and Bird had one tackle for a loss.

Miller said that with their dynamic quarterback that the Wildcats were able to spread the ball around against the Bulldogs’ defense.

“We kind of referenced him all week he can throw and run it so we had to do some things to take away the pass because that’s what they want to do first,” Miller said. “That opens a couple of plays, but our boys did very well on doing their best to stop the run and we were able to slow them down in the second half. That is a very good football team with a good quarterback and they are well coached. But our kids played hard and I am proud of their effort.”

On offense, the Bulldogs had 114 passing yards as Ryder Strother was 11-for-23 from the air for 93 yards and an interception and Taylor Mahler was 1-for-1 from the air for 21 yards. Brody Strother caught six passes for 70 yards, Bird had two catches for 24 yards, Brady Harr had two catches for four yards, and Aaden Keehn had one catch for 11 yards and Taylor Mahler had one catch for five yards.

Despite the loss, Miller said that a positive for the Bulldogs is that the team keeps getting better.

“That is what we have to keep doing as a young team, we have to get better,” Miller said. “So hopefully we can make a playoff push down the stretch. Our offense is becoming more dynamic. First couple of games we did not throw as much and we were just relying on our run game. Now our passing game we are getting better there and we are finding things that are getting better. On defense our run support does a good job for us and tonight in the second half I think we took a step forward in the pass game as we were able to pressure the QB and have him throw some wild balls. We just have to keep getting better.”

The team’s next game is on the road on Oct. 4. at Webster City at 7 p.m.