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Bulldogs remain winless on the road
ELNORA -- For the third time this season, Union (Dugger) ventured away from the friendly confines of Bulldog Field when they traveled here Friday night to play North Daviess in a Southwest Seven Conference football game.
And for the third time this season, the outcome left much to be desired.
The North Daviess defense pitched a shutout until their second-string defense gave up a touchdown in the final minute as the Cougars celebrated homecoming with a 28-6 victory over Union (Dugger), who slipped to 1-4, 0-2 in the conference.
"We just have not played very well on the road," said Union (Dugger) coach Todd Gambill, whose squad has lost three games away from home by a combined score of 106-40. "We did not play well at North Central to begin the season and this game was comparable to the way we played at Deaf School, which was not very good.
"I really don't know why we come out passive on the road. Maybe we could see about trying to schedule nine home games."
North Daviess, who now stands at 2-3, 2-1 in the Southwest Seven, had its best passing performance of the year from quarterback Drew Stuffle. The junior completed 10 of 11 passes for 93 yards and a 20-yard touchdown to Nathan Winklepleck, which put the Cougars ahead 21-0 late in the third quarter.
The Cougars, who snapped a two-game losing streak to the Bulldogs to take a 31-11 advantage in the series, used the pass and run to put together scoring drives of 62 and 68 yards as they led 14-0 at the half.
Ryan Webster scored from the 2 to cap the first march, which consumed six minutes and 39 seconds.
Dalton Sellers rushed for a 5-yard touchdown to concluded a 17-play drive that ate up over eight minutes. Wayman Brown booted four point after touchdowns for the winners.
"We knew that we were going to have a tough time running the football against them," North Daviess coach Scott Helms told the media. "We had struggled to come up with big plays in our first four games.
"But we had some nice plays out of the passing game tonight."
Union (Dugger) did finished with 125 yards of total offense, including a 40-yard halfback option pass and run from Corey Miller to Logan Chesterfield for the only Bulldog score with 1:00 to play.
Chesterfield was limited to three receptions for 43 yards.
"They rotated their safety toward Logan," said Gambill. "They were basically trying to double team him and take him out of the game."
But the Bulldogs managed just 39 yards as a result of 16 plays in the first half. Union (Dugger) quarterback B.J. Howard, who rushed for 45 yards on 11 carries, had three passes blocked and was 5 of 12 for 33 yards.
"The first two times we got the ball we were three-and-out," said Gambill. "We did come up a fumble recovery deep in their territory late in the first half, but were unable to get it in for the score. B.J. just did not do a very good job of throwing the ball tonight. We need more consistency and need our juniors and seniors to step up.
"You are going to have a tough time winning when you defense is on the field all the time, like they were in the first half. But you have to give North Daviess a lot of credit. Their defense played really well and we never managed to get much going until it was too late."
A fumble by Miller, the only Bulldog turnover, was picked up by Winklepleck, who raced 45 yards for a touchdown and a 28-0 lead at the 4:40 mark of the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs will play at North Knox at 7:30 p.m. Friday in another conference battle.
COUGARS 28, BULLDOGS 6
Union (Dugger) 0 0 0 6 -- 6
North Daviess 7 7 7 7 -- 28
First Quarter
N -- Ryan Webster, 2 yard run (Wayman Brown kick), 5:21. North Daviess 7, Union (Dugger) 0.
Second Quarter
N -- Dalton Sellers, 5 yard run (Brown kick), 7:37. North Daviess 14, Union (Dugger) 0.
Third Quarter
N -- Nathan Winklepleck, 20 yard pass from Drew Stuffle (Brown kick), 1:36. North Daviess 21, Union (Dugger) 6.
Fourth quarter
N -- Winklepleck, 45 yard fumble return (Brown kick). North Daviess 28, Union (Dugger) 0.
U -- Logan Chesterfield, 20 yard pass from Corey Miller, 1:00. North Daviess 28, Union (Dugger) 6.
Team Statistics
U -- First Downs 5; Rushing 22-72; Passing 6-18-0-53; Total Yards 125. Penalty Yards 0; Fumbles 1 (lost 1). N -- First Downs 13; Rushing 47-135; Passing 11-12-0-111; Total Yards 246; Penalty Yards 32. Fumbles 4 (lost 3).
Individual Statistics
Rushing -- (U) B.J. Howard 11-45, Miller 8-17, Frank Boyd 1-8, Trent Collins 1-4, Adam Lipscomb 2-2; (N) Winklepleck 17-85, Webster 15-32, Sellers 3-13, Ryan Ritter 5-8, Austin Campbell 1-7, Isaiah Swartzentruber 3-7, Stuffle 2-(-21).
Passing -- (U) Howard 5-12-0-33, Miller 1-1-0-20, Collins 0-5-0-0; (N) Stuffle 10-11-0-93, Davis 1-1-0-18.
Receiving -- (U) Chesterfield 3-43, Josh Davidson 1-13, Lipscomb 1-11, Blane Boyd 1-8; (N) Winklepleck 5-65, Dwain Joliff 4-23, Ritter 1-16, Wayman Brown 1-15.