Bulldog Football Will Host Webster City on Friday Night in District Home Opener
The Hampton-Dumont-CAL football team will look to bounce back from a tough loss in their district opener as they return home to face Webster City on Friday night.
HD-CAL is 4-1 and 0-1 in district play after a 14-7 district loss at Humboldt last week. Head Coach Cole Miller says two areas of improvement for the Bulldogs this week were strengthening communication between the field and the sideline, and improving the trust and execution of roles in the run game.
"Just being able to communicate with the kids, and making sure we're on the same page, and that the things that their seeing on the field is the things we are seeing on the sideline, so that is one thing," says Miller. "Just know our roles and responsibilites in the run game, making sure that we're not doing to much, we're just doing our job and trusting the others to do their's as well. I think we have some, definitely some things to learn from Humboldt, and get better and keep rolling."
The Bulldogs offense has worked through its run game with 1,331 rushing yards, which is the third most in Class 3A. They’re led by senior all-district level quarterback Gavin Meader with 450 passing yards and six touchdowns, and 408 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns, which is the fourth most in Class 3A. Senior Brody Walton is the leading rusher with 590 rushing yards which is the 10th most in Class 3A and five touchdowns. The Bulldogs defense has been strong, leading Class 3A with 58 tackles for loss and second in 3A with 24 sacks.
Webster City is 3-2 and 0-1 in district play after a 10-2 district loss at home to Clear Lake last week. They’re led by senior running back Jaxon Cherry with 937 rushing yards which leads Class 3A and 11 touchdowns which is the second most in 3A. The Lynx defense has been on and off, giving up 42 points to West Delaware in Week 4 and only 10 points to offensive power Clear Lake last week. The Lynx have been able to bring pressure with 31 tackles for loss, and 11 sacks. Miller says facing a run heavy team like Webster City the Bulldogs will need to finish tackles and play sound defensively.
"Carrying the positive momentum of being in the right spots to make those plays, and then just really focusing on finishing the tackle, heading into a tough team that runs the ball like Webster does. Can't miss tackles, have to be sound in your defense, so just going to focus on making sure we are in the right spots and then finishing the play."
This will be the first meeting between the teams since 2011, when the Bulldogs competed as the Hampton-Dumont school district. The Bulldogs are looking for their first win in the series since 2005.
Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. in Hampton.
