Haxtun advances to 2-0; set to see Mancos on Saturday in Fairplay

The Haxtun Bulldogs remain unbeaten and on top of 8-man leaderboards following a commanding 54-8 win over Holly on the road Friday night. The Bulldogs advance to 2-0 with the win of Holly and remain the number one team in all of Colorado 8-man football. This week, Haxtun will face off with number two ranked Mancos in a rematch of the Championship game last November. In that contest, the Bulldogs claimed the school's eight football championship title with a 40-0 shutout against the Bluejays.

Both Haxtun and Holly both put eight points on the board in gridiron action on Friday night. Haxtun exploded in the second, scoring 30 unanswered points before halftime to claim a 38-8 advantage midway through the contest. The game went much the same throughout the third and fourth quarters as the Bulldogs racked up another 16 points to claim the victory and remain undefeated.

"We have played Holly so many times in the past few years, it is starting to feel like a league game. The coaches and players know them as well as they do our league opponents," said Haxtun Head Coach JD Stone. "We got off the bus kind of slow Friday night. We didn't block or tackle well in the first quarter and it showed. We started doing the little things right in the second and started moving the ball and stopping Holly at that point."

In Holly, Haxtun competed a total of 52 plays including 17 first downs. The team suffered eight penalties for a total of 85 yards lost.

As quarterback, sophomore Ryland Wolff completed five of nine passes for 42 yards. He averaged 8.4 yards per pass. His cousin, Carter Lock, took two snaps, connecting with one receiver for four total yards.

Kaiden Schelling, Grant Stats and Corbin Andersen were each on the receiving end of Wolff's passes. Schelling led in receiving yards with 30 followed by Andersen with three and stats with four.

In the running game, Wolff led his team with 165 yards on ground. He averaged 13.8 yards per carry while registering three rushing touchdowns. Michael Gerk carried the ball 18 times for 122 yards. Gerk averaged 6.8 yards per carry and tacked on a touchdown. Kailin Kelley had 48 yards on the ground with an average of 9.6 yards per carry. He also had one rushing touchdown for the Bulldogs.

On defense, Kelley led his team in tackles with 15. He nabbed those with three solo and 12 assisted. Stats registered 11 total tackles including six solo and five assisted. Gerk trailed with nine tackles followed by Keegan Colglazier with eight and Schelling with seven.

Maclin Tempel sacked the Holly quarterback twice and Mason Bornhoft added a third.

Haxtun will face off with Mancos on Saturday afternoon at a neutral site in Fairplay at 1 p.m. According to MaxPreps, the Bluejays are currently 3-0 with wins over Melrose, N.M. and Monticello, Utah. Most recently, Mancos took down Merino, in Fairplay, 46-6.

"This week's game against Mancos should be a fun one," said Stone. "Number one versus number two and a rematch of the championship is always going to be exciting. We have a long week ahead of us of work and conditioning to play at altitude, but we should be ready to go!"