The Hampton-Dumont-CAL football team held on after a fast start, and played stifling defense in Friday’s 21-0 win at Charles City, as aired on 104.9 KLMJ.
On the opening possession, Aaden Keehn picked off a Charles City pass to set the Bulldogs up for their first possession. A few plays later, Taylor Mahler plunged into the end zone from four yards out for his first rushing score of the season. In the second quarter, quarterback Ryder Strother found a wide open Brady Harr for a 22-yard touchdown pass for a 14-0 lead, which was the halftime score.
The second half was cluttered with penalties by both teams, but the Bulldogs maintained composure. In the fourth quarter, Ryder Strother made the right read on an option play and ran in a five-yard score to help seal the win.
Defensively, the Bulldogs forced several Charles City punts and turnovers on downs, and Chase Johnson recovered a fumble to help preserve the shutout.
Johnson fumble recovery highlight:
“It wasn’t the cleanest game, and a lot of things happened to make it an interesting game,” Head Coach Cole Miller says. “But they fought hard. They played pretty composed for the things that were going on and the adversity that they had to face. So that was good. It’s going to be a good test going into a tough ball game next week just facing a different kind of adversity from what we’ve seen so far this year. But that was good. Effort’s always there. Defense played really well. They were able to get some drives going. But defense was able to, with their backs against the wall, make plays that count. Our offense was able to capitalize on a couple of drives and put some points up, so that was good.”
The Bulldogs rushed for 213 yards, including Colin Bird’s 16 carries for 97 yards.
Hampton-Dumont-CAL (3-5, 1-3 3A-2) will host #5 (3A) Algona in next week’s regular season finale.
Cole Miller interview:
