Bulldogs battle in a close, two-point game against the Dragons

The Bulldogs kept fans on the edge of their seats as they took on the neighboring Holyoke Dragons at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling Friday night. In a back and forth match up of the two rival schools, with numerous lead changes and a final second finish, the Haxtun Bulldogs fell short of a win by just two points.

In the second meeting of the two teams, this match up proved much closer as the two battled on the hardwood through four tough quarters of competitive basketball. As it came down to the final seconds of the game, Holyoke edged out a two-point win, 61-59, for their second take away over the Bulldogs this season. However, this match up was much closer compared to the 20-point win by the Dragons in early January.

"We definitely played better than the last time we saw Holyoke. We stayed out of foul trouble and played better defense. Those are what really hurt us last time," said Head Coach Jayden Stieb. "We played well enough to win. I thought guys on the bench really stepped up when they needed to. They fought hard as a team, just didn't make the plays we needed to make down the stretch."

Ryland Wolff led the Bulldogs on the scoreboard with 20 points. He also pulled down six rebounds. Maclin Tempel registered 10 points while pulling down nine rebounds. Michael Gerk pulled down the most amount of rebounds, 14 total, while also adding eight points to the board. Keegan Colglazier added eight points and brought down five rebounds. Chase Goddard registered two points as did Colin Cone.

"It's always tough to lose close. We know that the little mistakes add up throughout a game and become the difference between winning a losing. That will be our focus going forward," Stieb said.

With a 7-6 overall record, the Bulldogs head into the final three weeks of regular season action. This week, Haxtun is set to host Caliche on Friday at 4 p.m. and Wray on Saturday at 1 p.m. According to MaxPreps, Caliche is currently 3-8 overall, one of those losses coming from the Bulldogs in December. MaxPreps has the Eagles from Wray at 8-5 overall with a win over Berthoud and a loss to Yuma last weekend.