Bulldogs shut out Whitehall on the road

By Kelsie Hoitomt

WHITEHALL – The Boyceville football team shut out the Whitehall Norse last Friday in a 20-0 victory to advance to level two of the playoffs.

The Norse were undefeated at 7-0 in the Dairyland conference, but were no competition against the defense and the running game of the Bulldogs.

The first quarter went back and forth on offense as the Bulldogs weren’t able to reach the end zone.

Their first touchdown came in the second quarter on a two yard run by Zach Klassen. Matt Leach caught the pass from Josh Cormican for the two-point conversion play to put the Bulldogs on the board first at 8-0.

The Bulldogs were explosive coming into the second half of the game as they rushed for 123 yards in the third quarter alone on the legs of Klassen, Will Kraft and Dominic Olson.

Boyceville’s second touchdown of the game came in the middle of the third quarter on a three yard run from Olson to put the score at 14-0.

Another touchdown early in the fourth quarter by Olson would seal the Bulldogs 20-0 victory over the Norse.

The Bulldogs’ defense was a force to be reckoned with as they held Whitehall to just 24 yards rushing and 19 yards passing. They did not allow the Norse to have a first down the entire game.

An interception by Cormican and Ryan Williams and a fumble recovery by Kraft were huge plays in the game for the defense as well.

The offense ran 70 plays versus the Norse who ran a total of 23 plays the whole night.

“Our running game was solid behind a strong blocking effort from our offensive line, tight ends and running backs,” said coach Brian Roemhild.

Klassen led the game offensively with 145 yards on 26 carries. Kraft, who had been hampered by a hip injury, played a good game with 100 yards on 18 carries. Olson had 45 yards on 11 carries and Leach had nine carries for 22 yards.

All together the Bulldogs rushed for 316 yards and 26 yards passing for a total of 342 yards.

The Bulldogs will host the Athens Bluejays on Friday for the second round of playoffs starting at 7:00 p.m.

The Bluejays finished their season 7-1 in the Cloverwood conference and are the number three seed in Division 6.