Bulldogs’ Perfect Season Crushed in 49-13 Loss

It had been a while since the Bulldogs beat the Smithville Warriors. Kearney’s early-September, 20-19 win over Smithville conveyed a source of hope to a football team and community who embraced a new head coach and a dramatic shift in culture.

Head Coach Logan Minnick led the 2022 Kearney Bulldogs to a conference championship and an undefeated regular season, and in the process, rekindled an entire city’s pride in a legendary football program.

Kearney’s best opportunity for a state championship since 2016 presented itself before a deeply talented, unselfish, football team who bought into the Minnick way. In bitterly frigid conditions, the Bulldog defense forced Smithville to a 3-and-out in the first possession.  

Seconds later, Senior tight end Zach Grace connected with quarterback Casey Rooney on a sideline pass that caught the entire Smithville defense unaware. Rooney’s catch and run went 44 yards to the end zone and the dog pound erupted. The bulldogs appeared to be on their way to glory.

Junior, Cameron Emmons breaks through two Smithville defenders. PHOTO CREDIT - KELLY GENTRY

Smithville’s senior running back, Caleb Donnell scored on a one yard run at 6:53 in the first quarter. With the score tied 7-all, Smithville recovered an onside kick and converted it to a Ryan Weers 36-yard touchdown pass to Tristan Henshaw. Before the end of the first quarter, Smithville led 21-7.

Early in the second quarter, Rooney’s quarterback keeper to the Warrior 19-yard line gave Kearney some momentum. A high snap to Rooney on the next play was recovered and returned for a touchdown by Smithville’s Benjamin Murawski at the 11:13 mark. The wind blew colder as Smithville took a 28-7 lead.

We’ve seen enough of Smithville quarterback, Andrew Hedgecorth to know you can’t spot his Smithville Warriors 3 touchdowns and expect a favorable outcome.

But this year felt different. We’ve seen Kearney – The 10-0 conference champs – come from behind and recover from slow starts to clinch certain victory.

Hedgecorth passed to Carson Downey who in turn, lateraled to Philip Downey for the touchdown. Smithville led 35-7. With 2:12 to go in the first half, Casey Rooney carried 19 yards for what was to be the Bulldogs’ last score of the evening following the missed extra point.

Smithville scored twice in the second half, avenging their early season loss to Kearney with a devastating 49-13 victory and a district championship.

Kearney fumbled twice and had 2 passes intercepted playing against a team who will punish you for your mistakes. As the clock runs to zero in any championship game – for one team, though they played to a perfect regular season and held justifiably high expectations – all they feel is the cold wind.

KPGZ Sports – Mike Davis contributed to this story.