By Stephen Buus
The El Dorado Springs Bulldogs regained possession of the Cedar County Bowl trophy on Friday with a convincing 50-18 victory over the Stockton Tigers at the ‘Dog Pound.
Stockton (0-1), looking to defend the traveling hardware it won in 2016, came out early with an impressive 92-yard drive, about half of it earned on the ground by senior August Foster, and capped by a one-yard quarterback sneak from senior Jake Wheeler for a 6-0 Tiger lead.
But El Do (1-0) took over from there, as the Bulldogs rattled off 36 points on five unanswered scores—two of them coming back-to-back as junior Trey Babcock stole his own surprise onside kickoff in the second quarter. The Bulldogs showed an old-school T-formation and all three running backs were threats to break open big runs at any time. Babcock made things even more difficult for the Tiger defense as the El Do quarterback, faking one handoff to set up another.
Senior Trenton Hardie led the way with 13 carries for 167 yards and three TDs. Junior Tanner Witt had 138 yards and two scores on 10 carries; and senior Jake Schieffer added 101 yards and a score on 12 attempts.
Overall, El Do unofficially amassed 488 total yards of offense, with 469 of them coming on the ground. Babcock only threw two passes, completing both for 19 yards and a TD.
The Bulldog defense started keying on Foster, forcing Wheeler to scramble more. The athletic signal caller kept his team from totally folding with 121 rushing yards and two TDs on 13 rushes, and 9 of 18 passing for 142 yards and a score. Foster wound up with 99 yards on 19 carries.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night came in the line play. Stockton had a size advantage up front, featuring 280-pound senior Will Price and 305-pound classmate Bradley Burns. By contrast, El Dorado Springs only had one man in their front five even reaching the 200-pound mark (sophomore Jordan Gallette), but the Bulldogs were still able to open plenty of holes for their speedy runners to pile up the yardage and ultimately claim the prize that has been up for grabs between these two archrivals since 2003.
El Dorado Springs heads to Kansas City next week to challenge Pembroke Hill, while the Tigers open Mid-Lakes Conference play at home against Ash Grove.
Stockton 6 0 6 6—18
El Dorado Springs 8 20 14 6—50
First quarter
Stockton—Jake Wheeler 1 run (kick blocked), 7:52
El Do—Trenton Hardie 1 run (Trey Babcock run), 6:26
Second quarter
El Do—Tanner Witt 4 run (Hardie run), 11:54
El Do—Shelby McKinney 15 pass from Babcock (run failed), 7:49
El Do—Hardie 2 run (run failed), 1:46
Third quarter
El Do—Hardie 48 run (Babcock run), 7:36
Stockton—Wheeler 38 run (pass failed), 3:16
El Do—Witt run 49 (Babcock run)
Fourth quarter
Stockton—Bo Walker 53 pass from Wheeler (pass failed)
El Do—Jake Schieffer 23 run (run failed)
