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ZEPHYR – Seeking a second consecutive District 15-A Division II championship, the Zephyr Bulldogs on Friday night held off the team many considered the preseason league favorite – the Sidney Eagles – by a 21-20 count to remain in the driver’s seat in their quest for a repeat.
“We made a lot of mistakes, but we made plays when we really had to,” said Zephyr head coach Jeremy Phillips. “If we ever clean things up we’ve got the opportunity to be a good ball club. We’ve still got some growing pains that we’re trying to get through.”
The final stats were nearly as close as the margin as Zephyr (7-2, 3-0) finished with 264 yards of total offense to the 261 of Sidney (5-3, 1-1) and both teams turned over the ball twice. The Bulldogs rushed for 154 yards and passed for 110, while the Eagles generated 198 yards on the ground and 63 through the air.
For the Bulldogs, Karsen Floyd rushed for 70 yards, Tripp Ballard added 52 and a touchdown and Chayden Woodcock chipped in 32 yards. Through the air, Wyatt Stevens connected on 5 of 8 passes for 89 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and also caught a touchdown pass from Floyd. Ballard led the way with two grabs for 38 yards, Woodcock caught a 15-yard scoring toss, Floyd hauled in a 35-yard reception and Tanner Schoenhals and Rhett Williams added receptions for 8 yards apiece.
The Eagles received 93 yards rushing and a touchdown from Lehman Lindeque, along with 75 yards on the ground and two scores from Cameron Grant. Sidney completed 5 of 11 passes for 63 yards with a pair of crucial interceptions.
Clinging to a one-point lead with 4:49 left in the contest and Sidney facing a third-and 6 at the Bulldog 13, Lindeque was scrambling and looking for an opening receiver when he attempted to throw back across the field to Grant. Woodcock, a freshman for Zephyr, dove in front of the pass attempt for the interception, the second takeaway of the game for the Bulldogs.
“We’ve been saying all year that we’re super young and needed to grow up and that was an opportunity there where a freshman made a huge play there to give us a chance to win the game,” Phillips said. “And our last first down came from the same freshman that got the interception.”
Zephyr then marched 62 yards and chewed the remaining time off the clock, converting a third-and-17 from the Sidney 26 with 58 seconds remaining to seal the victory. On third down, Woodcock – who rushed for 32 yards on five carries – gained 16 yards down to the Sidney. Then, facing a fourth-and-one and the prospect of giving the ball back to Sidney with about 20 seconds left, Woodcock plowed through the defense for 5 yards to run out the clock.
The Bulldogs regained a 21-20 edge with 8:22 left in the contest, answering back-to-back touchdown drives the Eagles. Facing a second-and-27 following a holding penalty, the Zephyr quarterback Stevens connected with Floyd on a 35-yard fly route to move the ball to the Sidney 16. Two plays later, Stevens connected with Woodcock on a 15-yard scoring pass, then Stevens drilled the two-point kick to push Zephyr ahead.
Zephyr led 7-6 at halftime, marching 41 yards in eight plays – overcoming two false starts and a holding penalty in the red zone – before Floyd connected with Stevens on a 6-yard throwback on fourth-and-goal. On the two-point kick, the ball instead was snapped directly to the kicker Stevens, who found Williams wide open in the end zone to stake the Bulldogs to a one-point lead with 1:48 left in the first half.
“Sidney is a very aggressive defense so we designed some plays to try and counter that aggressiveness with some throwbacks and counter runs and we made some big plays because of it,” Phillips said in regard to the first touchdown. “Then on the extra point we wanted to slow down their rush and thought if we throw it we could back them off and it did. Later on we were able to kick our extra point because they were expecting us to pass it. It was just a little strategy we put in this week.”
Sidney struck first as its traveled 65 yards on its second possession, which followed a Zephyr fumble at the Eagle 15 on its opening drive. Grant scored on a 2-yard carry with 7:34 left in the first half for a 6-0 lead as the two-point try was blocked.
The Bulldogs opened the second half with possession and marched to the Sidney 7 before the drive stalled on downs. But on the Eagles’ second snap of the second half, Zephyr’s CJ Byers picked off an errant pass by Sidney’s Rex Childress at the Eagle 12. Two plays later, Ballard scored on a 5-yard carry, but the two-point kick was blocked as Zephyr’s lead stood at 13-6 at the 5:35 mark of the third.
Sidney then responded with consecutive scoring drives, first moving 43 yards in eight plays as Lindeque scored on a 7-yard run on third-and-goal with 2:26 left in the third period. Zephyr remained in front 13-12, however, as the two-point kick was blocked.
The Bulldogs’ next drive ended after two plays as Lindeque picked off a bobbled pass and the Eagles took over at their own 36. A 29-yard gallop by Lindeque set up a 1-yard touchdown carry by Grant, and Lindeque converted the two-point kick this time as Sidney grabbed a 20-13 edge with 13 seconds to go in the third period.
“We’ve been plagued with penalties and turnovers all year,” Phillips said. “Almost every game has been sloppy, where last year we won a lot of turnover battles and that won us games. We’re still young and if we can clean that up hopefully we can play with some of the bigger schools as we move into the playoffs.”
Next week, Zephyr has its bye before closing the regular season at Blanket (5-3, 2-0) – fresh off a 71-18 win over Mullin (0-9, 0-3) – which heads to Sidney next week in another pivotal 15-A Division II encounter.
“We’re not taking anything for granted,” Phillips said. “Blanket is a lot like us, young and having some growing pains and we know they’re going to give us everything they have over at their place. Whether they beat Sidney or not next week, they’re going to have to beat us for either a district championship or to get into the playoffs. We know we’re going to get everything they’ve got.”
