In the Bi-District Championship game last Thursday at Lockney against Springlake- Earth, the Spur Bulldogs fell short of a win by a touchdown. The final score was 42-50.
The atmosphere of a playoff game is phenomenal. This was the case Thursday night. The stands were filled with fans from hometowns and area students, all rooting for their teams knowing that this could be the last game of the season, and in some cases, the seniors’ last time to play a high school football game.
The Bulldogs knew they were facing a tough team starting the playoff bracket. Going into the game, Spur had several players banged up from the previous week, so they also knew they would have to be on their game to take up the slack of missing or hurt players.
The Bulldogs started strong in the first quarter with #11 Gunnir Bateman completing a pass to #15 Jaxen Zarate for a 23-yard touchdown. #8 Eric Maeurer made the kick. Springlake Earth responded and scored, but the Bulldogs fought back. Bateman completed a pass to # 22 Cory Hamilton for a 61-yard touchdown on a 4th and long deep in the Dogs’ own territory. Maeurer made the kick, finalizing the first-quarter score of 16–8.
The second quarter was a hard-fought defensive game among the players. Springlake- Earth would score first, but the Bulldogs responded quickly. Hamilton ran for a 75-yard touchdown; Maeurer’s kick was no good. The quarter wrapped up with Springlake scoring. The Bulldogs trailed by two points going into halftime, 22–24.
The third quarter was back and forth between the teams defensively and offensively. For the Bulldogs, Bateman completed two passes for a total of 76 yards—one to #50 Ian Tagle for a 48-yard touchdown, and the other to Hamilton for a 28-yard touchdown. Both of Maurer’s kicks were no good. The quarter ended with Spur recovering a fumble in the end zone for a safety, ending the third quarter with the Bulldogs behind, 26–42. The fourth and final quarter was among us. Emotions ran high and the fans were loud. Both teams battled the final quarter with grit and determination to advance for one more week of play.
Spur would score first with Hamilton’s 9 yard run for a touchdown. Maeurer’s kick was no good, leaving the score tied 42–42. Unfortunately, with less than two minutes on the clock, Springlake-Earth would score again, ending the game with a 42-50 final tally.
Nothing can prepare a team that has played with each other for several years for the end of the season, especially for the seniors.
Head coach Tate Clark said, “I was proud of the fight the boys showed—having some key injuries and having some younger kids step into roles make it tougher from the start They stayed in the game the entire time and kept fighting. I am going to miss all the seniors as they were sixth graders when I first started coaching here.”
Bulldogs, we are proud of you.
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