Peetz Powers Past Fleming

The Peetz Bulldogs football team hosted the Fleming Wildcats Friday night and came away with an impressive 67-22 victory against their rivals.

Peetz's defense shut out the Wildcats' offense in the last three quarters of play, to make a game that was competitive in the first quarter turn into a one-sided victory for the home team in the end.

Peetz elected to receive after winning the coin toss, and only took three plays to score, with senior Bryson Long scoring his first of five touchdowns on the day with a 17 yard run.

After the point-after kick was good, the score was 8-to-0 with Peetz leading. But the Wildcats responded quickly with a touchdown and successful point-after kick to tie the game at 8-to-8.

Peetz struck right back with a long touchdown run and successful point-after kick to again take the lead, 16-to-8. After a kickoff that pinned the Wildcats on their own one yard line, the Bulldogs were able to force a fumble that was recovered by Peetz inside the five yard line of the Wildcats. Two plays later, senior Zach Holtz threw one of his two touchdown passes on the day, and after another successful point-after kick, the Bulldogs had taken a 24-to-8 lead.

But the Wildcats roared back, going on a long drive that culminated in a four yard touchdown pass, but with a missed point-after kick attempt, to narrow the score to 24-to-14. On the ensuing kickoff, Zach Holtz returned the kick all the way to the Wildcats' end zone, but the touchdown was called back due to a holding penalty by Bryson Long.

The penalty wound up just delaying the next score by a few plays as Long again scored on another rush from scrimmage, and after a one point conversion, increased the Bulldogs' lead to 31-to-14.

But again the Wildcats would not give in, and starting deep in their own territory, they marched down the field then scored with a long touchdown pass coupled with a successful point-after kick to again narrow the score to 31-to-22. Momentum started to shift in Fleming's favor as a pass by Peetz junior Cooper White was intercepted deep in Bulldogs' territory, giving the Wildcats the ball on the five yard line and in position to score again. But that momentum quickly shifted the other way, as the Peetz defense shut down the Wildcats, with Cooper White sacking the quarterback on third down for an eight yard loss, forcing a fourth-and-goal for Fleming on the 13 yard line. With a fourth down pass lofted into the end zone, senior Bryson Long was able to adjust and deflect the ball away from the receiver, forcing a turnover on downs by Fleming.

After taking over on the 13 yard line, Peetz marched down the field again, with Bryson Long converting on a long third down, bullying his way for eighteen yards when he needed sixteen to pick up the first down. Peetz scored twice more by the end of the second quarter to bring the score to 44-22 by the end of the half. Fleming never recovered from their turnover on downs near the Peetz end zone, and ended up not scoring a point in the final three quarters of the contest. Peetz tacked on 23 additional points in the third quarter, and ended the game with the victory 67-to-22.

Peetz head coach Scott Sorensen commented after the game saying, "Fleming has a great coaching staff and they're in a rebuilding year. They came out and played physical in the first quarter. I was proud of the way our team responded to the toughness of the game. We were able to make a few key adjustments in the second quarter on defense, and then looked very good from then on out."

For Peetz, senior Zach Holtz had two passing touchdowns on two completions for 51 yards and quarterback rating of 117.5. Senior Bryson Long had an outstanding game with five touchdowns, 270 rushing yards on 21 carries, and 11 tackles. Junior Cooper White had two receptions for 51 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 108 yards on 12 carries. Peetz evened their record to 1-and-1 with the victory, and next travels to Joes, Colo. to face Stratton/Liberty on Saturday.