Friday night’s 33-14 loss at the hands of state-ranked Princeton has Gallatin looking forward toward a more favorable schedule as the Bulldogs move closer to Class 1, District 14 play.
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Gallatin, now 2-4 on the season and 2-2 in league action, travels to King City this week to take on a Wildkat team looking for a similar turnaround to its season. King City brings a 1-5 overall record and 1-4 Grand River Conference mark into play. The Kats own a lone victory, 27-12, over Polo.
In the weeks ahead, Gallatin takes on Polo (2-4) and Maysville (2-4) in district before a head-on collision with state-ranked Hamilton (5-0) in the district and season finale. Maysville, which began the season on the state-ranked list as a GRC contender, has spiraled downward toward last Friday’s game, which saw the Wolverines edge the Tarkio Indians, 14-13.
Though the Bulldogs were able to cut their deficit to two scores late in the fourth quarter, Princeton’s Tigers were able to chew up minutes on the clock and add a meaningless touchdown with less than a minute to play. A sputtering offense continued to plague the Bulldogs, who continue to have problems putting together sustained drives.
The Bulldog defense held on the game’s opening series, but the Tigers, in turn, pushed the Bulldogs back toward their own goal line and scored a safety with a sack of quarterback Kale Hefley. A long kickoff return set up another quick Tiger score when quarterback Troy Meinke dove over from a yard out.
Just when it looked like the Bulldog defense would hold again early in the second quarter, Meinke hit Nathan Wilson on a fourth and long corner route covering 25 yards to the end zone.
But as they have done more than once this season, the Bulldogs jumped on the back of their special teams play. Terrill Wood fielded the ensuing kickoff and handed off to Cody Selby, who hit a seam up the middle and cut toward the sideline on an 80-yard return. The PAT was blocked but Gallatin had closed to a more comfortable 15-6 margin.
Though the Bulldogs were able to feel good about the halftime score, they couldn’t stop the Tigers from driving the length of the field on their first possession of the third period. A Vance Purdun run of four yards upped the ante to 21-6, and the Tigers weren’t done yet.
Even as the Bulldogs were trying to move the ball out of their territory, corner Aaron Martin picked off Hefley and returned the turnover to Gallatin’s 26. Barely a minute later, the Tigers were back in the end zone with Purdun again getting the TD carry.
A fumble recovery by Derrick Feigly gave the Bulldogs life at the Tiger 24 with 5:31 left to play, but Matt Atkinson, who took over at quarterback for Hefley, was swarmed under a sack for a ten-yard loss. Facing third down and 26, Atkinson scrambled right and found Selby on a hook pattern near the Tiger bench. Selby shielded the ball against his defender and turned up the sideline on a 40-yard run.
Atkinson passed again to Selby for the two-point conversion, but that was the final blow delivered by the Bulldogs. Princeton punched in a score with 52 seconds left when Martin ran in from ten yards out.