Huskies top Riverside Rebels

The Huskies faced off against the Riverside Rebels Friday night in Basin and came away with a 27-8 win. 

“Hats off to Riverside, they came out ready to play,” said Coach Trent Aagard. “They came out and played a very physical game. They did a good job of setting the edge on run plays and did a good job of making it more of a rock fight than a track meet. It was a big conference game for both teams and I felt like both sides worked hard. It was awesome to have so much support at our night games (Riverside and Meeteetse). The support has been great.” 

Offensively, the Huskies only scored four touchdowns, two from Taft Winters and one apiece from Kole Walker and Cole Gotfredson. Burlington threw for 131 yards and rushed for 172 yards with some big numbers from Walker and from Paul McNiven. “I think there was some growth from the guys when things aren’t coming easy,” said Aagard. “These are lessons we need to learn in order to be successful in the playoffs. They need to rely on the team and each other when things are going sideways. We can work on some of the other things, but some of the intangible things only come from going through things as a team.” 

Defensively, Burlington had over 50 tackles and some strong defensive numbers from Tempany, Parker Cook, Chase Bassett, Winters and Walker and held the Rebels to just one touchdown. “I thought all the guys who played did a good job of focusing on their assignments. They rallied to the ball, pass coverage was really good and we were able to generate quite a bit of pressure all night.”  

With their North Conference title secure, the Huskies will have a No. 1 seed for the upcoming playoffs. “I thought it was a good opportunity for us to fight through some adversity, both self-inflicted and also a tough opponent,” said Aagard. “It’s not real often that we turn the ball over so much and are still able to come out on top. I give a lot of credit to our guys for just staying in the fight and not letting mistakes compound. After the game, I told the team that I wasn’t happy about the turnovers, but I was impressed that the defense stepped up and didn’t allow Riverside to capitalize on them. It was also a little bit of a wake-up call to us on some things we need to really focus on heading down the stretch,” said Aagard. 

Burlington will celebrate Senior Night and play its final regular season game on Friday, hosting Midwest with a middle school kickoff at noon and varsity kickoff at 2 p.m. 

BURLINGTON 27, RIVERSIDE 8

RUSHING – Burlington 35-172 (Kole Walker, 18-77 and 1 touchdown; Paul McNiven, 9-71). 

PASSING – Burlington 13-of-22 for 131 yards (Walker, 12-of-19 for 122 yards). 

RECEIVING – Taft Winters, 5 catches for 56 yards and 2 touchdowns; Matt Tempany 4 catches for 45 yards). 

DEFENSIVE STANDOUTS – Tempany led the Huskies with 23.5 points (7 solo tackles, 4 assisted tackles, 1 shared tackle for loss and 1 interception), followed closely behind by Parker Cook with 20 points (5 solo tackles, 4 assisted tackles, 3 tackles for loss and 3 sacks) and Chase Bassett with 20 points (5 solo tackles, 5 assisted tackles, 1 tackle for loss and 2 pass break ups) and Winters with 19 points (7 solo tackles, 4 assisted tackles and 1 tackle for loss) and Walker with 17 points (3 solo tackles, 5 assisted tackles, 1 tackle for loss and 1 fumble recovery).