Bulldogs fall to Madrid on Homecoming night

Madrid’s size, speed and experience were just too much for this year’s predominately young Bulldog squad. The Tigers, who jumped off to an early lead, dampened Ogden’s Homecoming, winning 56-14 Friday night.

The game started out on a sour note for Ogden as Madrid returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Ogden was able to respond here and there, driving into Madrid’s territory in the first half but didn’t come away with any points. Madrid was able to capitalize off of a couple of fumbles and extended the lead. By the end of the second quarter Ogden was down 56-0. 

The good news is that Ogden didn’t quit as they held Madrid scoreless in the second half and put up 14 of their own points. That was behind freshman quarterback Sam Christensen who accounted for the two touchdowns for Ogden, one passing and one rushing. Christensen sort of epitomizes the Bulldogs right now according to head coach Jacob Burger. 

“We are really young. Take Sam for example. He does some things that make you say, ‘wow, look at him. He’s only a freshman? Man I can’t wait to see him in four years,’” Burger said. “But we have a team full of freshmen and sophomores playing. We are going up against seniors and we don’t have the experience or right now, the talent to compete with them.”

The young team Ogden has is getting better though. Even if the score was still lopsided there were some positives to take away. Christensen did look very good in the second half. He was mainly going up against back-ups, but he made accurate passes, had some nice runs, and made good decisions. He ended up completing  5 of 13 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown to Nathan McCutchen. That touchdown was a 63 yard catch where McCutchen broke multiple tackles and outsprinted the Madrid safety. 

Read more in the Sept. 28 issue of The Ogden Reporter.