Wheatland football starts 2-0

Mark DeLap
Posted 9/7/21

Courtesy/Record-Times

The Bulldogs have had two very long roads in two weeks, traveling to Rawlins in their first game of the season and then Kemmerer last week. After traveling almost 1,200 miles by bus in their first two weeks, Wheatland has opened 2-0 and have only allowed six points in eight quarters of football.

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Wheatland football starts 2-0

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WHEATLAND – The Wheatland Bulldogs have traveled almost 1,200 miles in the past two weeks and have exemplified what it means to be road warriors.

Two weeks ago, the Dogs pitched a shutout against Rawlins 36-0 and last Friday they spent over 10 hours to Kemmerer and back and the defense almost did it again as WHS defeated the Kemmerer Rangers 46-6.

The Bulldogs who were missing their starting running back, Hyannie Fausto, brought a new face but a familiar name to the gridiron. Junior running back Aric Suko, brother of last year’s 1,000-yard rusher who has moved on to play at Chadron State, Adam Suko, would get the start.

From the first handoff, Suko never stopped running hard and making tacklers think twice about trying to bring him down. He scored four touchdowns and had combined rushing/passing yards of 165 yards. Add to that Rodee Brow who had an impressive touchdown run and caught another pass for a score, and it was an impressive one-two punch for the offense.

WHS head coach Cody Bohlander said that Suko was a pleasant surprise and said that he filled in well, noting that it’s nice to have a bunch of running backs.

Kade Preuit was nearly flawless at quarterback going 9-for-12 and 121 yards through the air.

The Dogs scored early and often scoring 24 points in the first half and 22 points in the second half and amassed 191 yards on the ground in typical Wheatland smash-mouth football.

For the second week in a row, the defense stepped up and kept the Rangers in check holding them to only one touchdown which came with six minutes left on a running clock in the fourth quarter.

Ryland Petroski led the defense with eight tackles while a host of other Dogs were also instrumental in shutting down the Kemmerer offense.

With the zero-week win and the nonconference win at Kemmerer, the Dogs are poised and ready to face their first conference showdown this week at home against Big Horn who comes in hoping to get some revenge for last year’s beatdown in their own backyard. The Rams come in officially at 0-1 losing their first game to Lovel as they were shut out 20-0.

“I thought we played really well after traveling 5 and a 1/2 hours,” Bohlander said. “Long road trips definitely take a toll, but our players did well and only showed a little bus lag in the first quarter. We put up some great numbers on the night. We had tons of kids contribute on the night. Our line did a great job getting a push on our run plays. Our defense had another great night only allowing 100 yards for the night. We are still looking to build and clean up things each week. We are excited for this week and getting to play at home.”

The Bulldogs and Rams game this Friday will begin at 6 p.m.