The Gallatin Bulldogs evened their season and Grand River Conference record at 3-3 Friday night with a 21-6 victory over visiting Maysville.
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The Gallatin Bulldogs evened their season and Grand River Conference record at 3-3 Friday night with a 21-6 victory over visiting Maysville. The Bulldogs, winners of two straight, try to get above the .500 mark this week when they host the East Buchanan Bulldogs on Homecoming night in Gallatin.
East Buchanan comes to Gallatin on a 3-game losing skid. The blue and gold Bulldogs started the season 3-0 after wins over Lathrop, Polo and Maysville (42-14), but have since lost in consecutive weeks to Trenton (40-6), Plattsburg (48-0) and Lawson (29-8). East Buchanan is the 30th ranked team in Class 1, according to TeamRanks.com, a web site that rates every football team in the state of Missouri based upon a number of criteria. Gallatin is currently ranked 43rd of the 63 teams in Class 1.
Despite losing to East Buchanan, 31-19, last season, Gallatin hopes to pick up where it left off in the 2nd half of that game. EB led, 25-0, at intermission before Gallatin, despite numerous turnovers, battled back to make a game of it in the 2nd half.
Offensively, EB returns 8 starters from last year’s 5-6 team that bowed out of the Class 1 quarterfinals after a 34-20 loss to Princeton. Leaders for the Bulldogs are junior back Adam Barber, senior back Derek Pflugradt, senior end Andrew Mead and first-year quarterback Mark Burston, a junior. Defensively, EB returns 6 starters from a year ago.
Aerial connection clicks
Gallatin led from the start of last Friday’s game, but the Bulldogs couldn’t put the winless Wolverines away until the middle of the 4th period. Gallatin went up, 7-0, in the 1st quarter when quarterback Duke Burge capped a 56-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Colby Swanstone. Burge added the PAT kick.
An interception set up Maysville’s only score of the game when Burge was picked off by Matt Jundy at the Wolverine 34-yard line and returned the ball to the Bulldog 42. Seven plays into the drive, quarterback Jesse Erickson hit Eric Zug for a 24-yard gain to the GHS 7-yard line. Erickson took the 1st down snap and dodged his way into the end zone off a broken play. The extra-point kick failed after a Wolverine illegal procedure penalty.
A Tyler Nichols kickoff return of 47 yards positioned the Bulldogs on the Wolverine 39. Zac Bradley carried for 16 yards on 1st down. Facing 3rd and short yardage, Burge threaded the ball to Swanstone for a 15-yard aerial score.
With less than a minute to play, Erickson directed the Wolverines through the air and completed 2 of 5 passes to the Bulldog 17. With time for one play, Erickson scrambled out of the pocket and made it to the 12-yard line before Bulldog safety Calvin Horvatin stepped up to collar him as time elapsed in the half.
Neither team could sustain a drive until the Bulldogs took advantage of a short field midway through the 4th quarter. Nichols carried 3 times for a total of 17 yards. On 1st and 10 from the Wolverine 26, Burge lofted a pass to Swanstone, who appeared blanketed by Erickson near the goal line pylon. The two grappled for the ball in mid-air but it was Swanstone who came down with possession for the TD. Burge kicked the extra point.
Maysville inserted Erickson at end and sophomore Travis Ellis at quarterback for a final push. Completing 7 of 11 passes, Ellis guided his team to the Bulldog 13-yard line before linebacker Jacob Gardner pulled down Erickson 6 yards short of a 1st down with 1:27 to play. The Bulldog offense took over and ran out the clock.
Burge, who now has passed for nearly 600 yards, threw for 85 yards, including 7 tosses to Swanstone for 82 yards and 3 scores. Swanstone has caught 36 passes for over 500 yards. Nichols rushed 23 times for 138 yards to push his season total to 684 yards. Defensively, Nichols totaled 10 solo tackles with 5 assists from his linebacker spot. Sean Wood registered 6 tackles and 9 assists from his spot on the Bulldog line.