By Alex Benzegala
Panhandle Post
The Alliance Bulldogs football program has been craving a win to end a long losing streak, and they got it on Thursday night in a 24-20 win over Gordon-Rushville. There was a sense of relief, but also a feeling of joy the players, coaches and parents felt on the away sidelines after getting their first win in almost 3 years.
"I'm so proud, so happy for these kids," Head Coach T.D Stein said. "When you go that long without getting a win, just getting the monkey off your back and getting things kickstarted for the program, and that's how I think tonight went."
Early on, it was a defensive battle with both teams committing a lot of penalties on offense that stalled their early drives, but it was Alliance who found the endzone on the final play of the 1st quarter with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Landen Crowe to Tristen Timbers. 2-point conversion was good to make it 8-0 after the first quarter.
Gordon-Rushville struggled to sustain drives in the first half, as Alliance was great on 3rd down all game long, holding the Mustangs to 1 of 8 on 3rd down in the 1st half and 2 of 11 on the game. Alliance also established a running game with freshman Trini Trejo who had a very strong debut.
Late in the first half, Alliance drove 50 yards and Landen Crowe scampered 10 yards for the rushing touchdown, 2-point conversion was good again, and that gave Alliance a 16-0 lead at halftime.
Gordon-Rushville started the 2nd half with a solid drive led by the running Wyatt Fedderson, but the Mustangs missed a 27-yard field goal. Crowe and the Alliance offense went back to work, with Crowe airing out a deep pass to Jonah Amill for a 40-yard TD to give Alliance a commanding 24-0 lead with 4:07 left in the 3rd.
Gordon-Rushville woke up immediately after, returning a kick for a touchdown, to cut it to 24-7. On the ensuing Bulldogs drive, Alliance got inside the Mustangs 10-yard line, but Crowe was intercepted for a TD by Johnny Ziller to get G-R back in the game at 24-13 to end the 3rd quarter.
Gordon-Rushville scored again on a Kyle Vincent long TD with 4:02 in the 4th, and Alliance's offense stalled on their last possession to give the Mustangs one last chance to win it. On 4th down, Espen Lanik intercepted Johnny Ziller to end the game.
"Finishing the 2nd half was rocky," Stein said. "It was almost like we didn't win or didn't know what to do, but we kept fighting and found a way."
One of the big positives for the Bulldogs were their ability to make tackles up front. Matthias Benzel had some big tackles for loss, as did Aiden Hancock and the rest of the front seven.
Next up for Alliance is a home game against Valentine next Friday.