Bulldogs roll to homecoming win

EMPIRE - The Empire Bulldogs came tantalizingly close to finishing their game against Snyder by halftime, but it did not take them long to end it after the start of the third quarter. 

Thirteen seconds to be exact.

Empire racked up 44 points in the first two quarters - one point shy of the required 45 points for a game-ending mercy rule, but Sean Allen recovered a fumble by Snyder on the second half kickoff. On the first play from scrimmage, Kamryn Whetstone ripped off a 20-yard touchdown run up the gut to end the game with a 50-0 victory.

It was the fourth shutout pitched by the Empire defense this season. The Bulldogs also remained unbeaten at 6-0 overall and 2-0 in District B-2. They have a showdown this Thursday at Hollis (4-2, 2-0) in a battle of top 10 ranked teams. 

“I thought it went really well tonight,” said Brant Hayes, Empire head coach. “The defense again played really good for us. On offense, we did a lot of different formations and a lot of different packages. I thought everybody ran the ball real hard and we threw the ball good and we did what we had to do.”

Empire scored on all but one of their first half possessions as they took control early and kept up the pressure. 

Quarterback Bryce Shaver got things started with a 17-yard touchdown run on the first possession. Nathan Menga’s two-point conversion made it 8-0 with 10:16 left in the first quarter.

After forcing a punt, the Bulldogs went on a 15-play, 52-yard drive with Whetstone getting his first touchdown of the night on a one-yard plunge. Chase Kaspereit’s two-point conversion made it 16-0.

Their next possession would not take as long as Nathan Menga ripped off a 53-yard touchdown run following another Cyclone punt that pushed the lead to 24-0 after a Shaver two-point conversion with 1:38 to go in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Empire would add a 25-yard touchdown pass from Shaver to Christian Benitez and a 45-yard touchdown pass from Shaver to Kutter Rochell. 

Both two-point conversion attempts failed, however, which kept the Bulldogs just shy of the mercy rule.

But that only delayed the inevitable as Whetstone quickly scored his second touchdown of the night in the third quarter.

Even with a few games left on the schedule, Hayes thinks the game against Hollis could decide the district championship.

“It will be a two-hour road trip for us,” Hayes said. “But, that’s what I told the boys on why we went on all those long road trips early in the year was to get used to that. That way it will not be a big deal and nothing out of the ordinary. (Hollis) is a really, really good football team and they’re coached really well, so it’s going to be a great game.”

Hollis’ two losses have come against Tipton (28-26) and Laverne (42-12).ckoff for the game is 7 p.m.