WHEATLAND – The Wheatland High School Bulldog football team was officially eliminated from playoff contention last Friday night at Wheatland’s final home game against Burns High School.  In addition to the game Wheatland High School recognized senior athletes from the golf team, the cross country team and the football team.

The Bulldogs, who drew first blood on their first offensive possession took an early 7-0 lead, but Burns battled back with a balanced combination of passing and rushing to tie the score with 5:52 left in the first quarter. By halftime, the Dogs were still very much in the game down only 14-7.

A blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown along with a field goal put Burns up 23-7 midway through the third quarter. The Dogs rallied back on a pair of long touchdown receptions to JP Anderson, the first for 56 yards and the second for 62 yards which brought the score with under two minutes left in the game to 23-21.

With just under a minute left WHS quarterback Brock Peasley sprinted around the end and headed for the pylon, scoring a touchdown that would have most likely given the Bulldogs the late quarter victory, but a holding call took the wind out of the blue and yellow sails and the score ended 23-21. 

“I am super proud of how our kids played and responded after halftime and gave it their all to win the game,” Bulldog head coach Cody Bohlander said. “Our second half was some of the best football we have played this season and it was good to see the kids do it. They have a ton of potential to be good. It is tough to not win your last game as a senior, but I truly appreciate all of what our seniors have done for us over the years. Many of them started on our teams for multiple years and had a lot of success as a bulldog player and we will miss having them on the field for us. We are focused on one more game and trying to get after Tongue River and then we will look to get ourselves ready to go for next season.”

The Bulldogs recorded 322 yards of total offense to Burns’ 263 yards. On the ground for the Dogs, Aric Suko was the workhorse, carrying the ball 20 times for 101 yards while Ryland Petroski had five carries for 81 yards.  JP Anderson had 124 yards receiving for the Bulldogs.

They will travel to Tongue River for their final game of the year this Friday where kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.

The following seniors and their families were recognized before the game Friday night. Cross Country - David Bookout son of Jessica and Robert Murray. Golf - Caden Davis son of Jenny and Cory Gillaspie. Football - mgr. Alice Soffia Host Parent Thomas Martinez, Barak Bertoch son of Kara & Andy Bertoch, Maxx Meyer son of Lanay & Greg Meyer, Ryland Petroski son on Jacque Herb & Greg Petroski, Drew Smialek son of Dareth & Doug Smialek, Aric Suko son of Joe & Peggy Suko and JP Anderson son of Sherri & Mark Anderson.