LONE TREE FOOTBALL

New London overpowers Lone Tree

By Paul D. Bowker
Posted 10/13/22

NEW LONDON

Lone Tree quarterback Ethan Bockelman’s dive through the middle of the offensive line for a touchdown Friday night provided a spark for the Lions in their road game at New …

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LONE TREE FOOTBALL

New London overpowers Lone Tree

Posted

NEW LONDON

Lone Tree quarterback Ethan Bockelman’s dive through the middle of the offensive line for a touchdown Friday night provided a spark for the Lions in their road game at New London.

The touchdown silenced the home crowd.

The score, combined with Jader Sanchez’s extra-point kick, tied the game at 7 midway through the opening quarter. Game on.

And that’s when things went bad for the Lions in their 58-21 loss to the Tigers.

New London (5-3), which has scored 132 points in its last two games, scored touchdowns on its next seven possessions. The Tigers didn’t punt until the backups were in the game, they had a 51-point lead and a running clock was in place.

New London ran up more than 440 yards of total offense on the Lions, creating frustration among Lone Tree’s defenders as the nightmarish night wore on.

“We played so well last week at WACO,” said Lions head coach Joe Donovan. “What we’re asking is the same effort and we didn’t get it. I understand they have some good athletes, but we saw good athletes last week.”

New London senior running back Boden Pickle rushed for 149 yards and 2 touchdowns, averaging more than 11 yards a carry. Quarterback Dom Lopez completed all seven passes he threw, for 97 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he rushed 12 times for 74 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

The Tigers’ offensive attack followed Lone Tree’s 42-17 loss to unbeaten WACO on Sept. 30 and a 54-14 loss to Winfield-Mt. Union on a night that Iowa football recruit Cam Buffington ran for three touchdowns.

The Lions had won three of four games until running into those buzzsaws.

“It’s just frustrating,” Donovan said. “I mean, we could stop two-point conversions for three yards, but we couldn’t make a three-yard stop in the middle of the field. I pointed out to the kids, I just felt like we really played. … It’s got to be on me. I just felt like we just didn’t play very aggressively for some reason. I’ll accept responsibility.”

New London senior running back Blaise Porter ran for touchdowns of 4 and 2 yards in the first half as the Tigers went ahead, 38-7. Pickle and Lopez also scored on runs in the first half, and Lopez delivered touchdown passes to Evan Reed and Reen Seberg, the second one covering 30 yards with 15 seconds left in the second quarter.

New London scored touchdowns on its first eight possessions.

The game loosened up in the fourth quarter, when Lone Tree backup quarterback Maddox Jondle ran for two touchdowns on consecutive possessions.

The Tigers failed to score on seven two-point conversions, including one in the third quarter when Lone Tree’s Caden Smith drove Lopez into the ground.

“That’s a good team,” Donovan said of New London. “They’ve got some athletes over there. When they get the ball, it’s going to take more than one to tackle them.”

The Lions (3-4, 3-3 District 6) return home to host Iowa Valley (5-3, 4-2) in their regular season finale at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14. Lone Tree is attempting to capture one of two at-large playoff spots in the eight-player class.

Lone Tree, football, New London