By Alex Benzegala
Panhandle Post
The Alliance Bulldogs had moments of success on Friday night that made it look like they might break their 22-game losing skid, but ultimately Chase County relied on their dominant running game and four Alliance interceptions to pull away 38-8 at Bulldog Stadium.
"We did some really good things, we did some bad things," first year Head Coach T.D Stein said. "The biggest focus point moving forward is our tackling, a lot of the time we were in the right spots and we just couldn't get the running back down so that's a big focus point."
The start of the game could not have gone any worse for the Bulldogs, senior quarterback Landon Crowe threw an interception for a touchdown to Longhorns linebacker Tyler O'Neil on the 2nd play from scrimmage. Chase County added a short James McArthur rushing touchdown to end the first quarter to give CC a 14-0 lead. The Bulldogs were limited to zero first downs in the first quarter, but the 2nd quarter belonged to Alliance as they're rushing defense improved and Crowe began finding chemistry with his receivers.
A Crowe touchdown pass late in the first half to senior receiver Tristen Timbers from 10 yards and a 2-point conversion cut the lead to 14-8. James McArthur kicked a 37-yard field goal to give the Longhorns a 17-8 advantage at halftime.
Chase County got the ball to start the 2nd half, and while Alliance forced the Longhorns to several 3rd down and longs, Chase County converted with long runs by Thomas Reeves among others to set up a touchdown pass to make it 24-8.
An interception thrown by Crowe gave the ball to Chase County with a chance to almost ice it in the 3rd, but Jett Herian came up with a fumble recovery that gave life to the Bulldogs sideline in the 2nd half.
Alliance was unable to find the end zone and Chase County added a passing TD, a safety, and a 52 rushing TD by Thomas Reeves for the 38-8 win.
Landen Crowe did do some nice things at quarterback, he completed 16-30 passes for 191 yards, his 3rd most yardage total of his career. He had the one touchdown pass but the four interceptions were also tied for most in his career.
Tristen Timbers led Alliance with four receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown, including a catch for 50 yards. Seth Meyring had 67 yards on four receptions, and Espen Lanik had five receptions for 34 yards. The Bulldogs had just 16 rushing yards on 14 carries and Stein commented on that. "I think the biggest thing is getting the running game started, Chase County was in the 4-3 making it tough for us to block," Stein said. "Getting a good push up front is going to be huge for us, so we can mix it up more. We had to rely on the pass game at the end and we don't want to be a one dimensional team."
Next up for Alliance (0-1) is a road game on Thursday night against Gordon Rushville (0-1) Who got blanked 48-0 against Chadron on Friday.