The Harrisburg Bulldogs shutout first-year varsity team Linn 51-0 on Senior Night to improve to 5-4 overall with the postseason district tournament beginning Friday. The win marks Harrisburg’s third straight.

The Bulldogs received a first-round bye as one of the top six teams in the district, and were seeded third. The bottom four teams will face play-in games on Friday, with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals next Friday, November 8. Harrisburg will take on sixth-seeded Fayette, which also received a first-round bye, in the quarters.

Harrisburg’s offense scored seven touchdowns, six of which came from the rush game. Junior Caleb Sager again shouldered the load, carrying the ball 10 times for 192 yards and three touchdowns. The strong performance pushed his season total past the 1,000-yard rushing milestone. He now stands at 1,145 total yards with at least one game left.

Senior quarterback Trace Combs also scored three rushing touchdowns on just six carries totaling 110 yards. That brings his season total to 715 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns on 68 attempts.

In the air, Combs completed three of six passes for 96 yards and a touchdown pass to junior Rylee Robinson. Combs has amassed 1,265 total passing yards with 10 touchdowns this season, completing half of his 140 passing attempts.

On Friday, Robinson made two grabs for 81 yards. Senior Bryce Ott had one reception for 15 yards.

Ott leads a trio of receivers in total yards with 600 on 25 receptions with six touchdowns this season. Robinson has scored seven times on 30 catches for 523 yards. Sager has made 12 grabs for 81 yards and a touchdown.

“The boys came out Friday and played great all night,” said Harrisburg coach Brennan Claas. “I’m proud of the boys for coming out on Senior Night focused and playing four great quarters. The ground game stayed hot.”

Junior Jonathan Darwent had an outstanding night on defense, leading Harrisburg with 15 tackles (7 solo), a sack, three tackles for loss, and a forced fumble. Angel Guzman made Harrisburg’s second quarterback sack of the game while recording five tackles and one for a loss.

Ott and Robinson each finished with eight total tackles. Ott also had one interception. Robinson finished with two tackles for loss and recovered a fumble.

Bender Wardrip and freshman Kadyn Weldon both made eight tackles with one each for a loss. Junior Aden Stone added six tackles, with one going for a loss of yards.

The defense had a strong night, despite the absence of Victor Shouse and Zane Wade, who were both injured the week prior at Fayette. They are expected to return for next week’s quarterfinal.

“The defense played extremely well even though we were missing a couple of starters,” Claas said. “I’m proud of our young guys for getting in the game and keeping the intensity up all night.”

Harrisburg’s third seed grants the Bulldogs a week of rest before returning to their home turf on November 8 to take on sixth-seeded Fayette. A familiar opponent, Harrisburg defeated the Falcons the week prior, 46-14, in Fayette on October 18.

“Going into districts, we are riding a nice wave of momentum after winning three straight games,” Claas said. “It will be nice to have a week to get healthy before starting districts, but we have to remain focused and continue to get better as we have a very competitive district with several teams we have already seen this year. Fayette sounds like they are much healthier than they were when we played last week. Fayette created some explosive plays on us, and we will have to limit those if we want to advance in district play. Offensively, we will need to clean up some blocking schemes and find a little more consistency in our passing game.”

The winner of next Friday’s game will advance to the semifinals against either second-seeded Westran or the winner of the play-in game between seventh-seeded Russellville and winless Cole Camp, the 10th seed (see bracket on Page 7). The Bulldogs handily defeated Russellville 55-14 on October 11 but have not faced former Lewis & Clark Conference opponent Westran (7-2) or Cole Camp this season.

Next Friday’s quarterfinal will kick off at 7 p.m. in Harrisburg.