Vinton-Shellsburg spoiled Hampton-Dumont-CAL’s homecoming Friday, defeating the Bulldogs 21-20.
The Bulldogs got an early touchdown from Blaek Burmester to Aaden Keehn for 66 yards, but trailed 14-7 at halftime. Early in the third quarter, Joe Powers rumbled in from two yards out to tie the game at 14. Trailing 21-14 midway through the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs capped off a drive with a two-yard touchdown run by Ryder Strother, but the game-tying extra point was blocked. The Bulldogs had a final opportunity inside a minute remaining, but a game-winning 27-yard field goal attempt was blocked. Head Coach Cole Miller says the team missed many opportunities.
“We got inside the 10-yard line, five yard line and turned the ball over and weren’t able to punch it in on a couple different occasions,” Miller says. “That’s the same story about not being able to finish off drives. Came back to bite us in the butt again. We did a pretty good job stopping the rush, but they were able to connect on some deep passes and their quarterback got loose a couple of times and made some plays downfield, kind of out of structure. And that didn’t help us at all.”…