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Cowboys Come Up Just Short Again, Fall to Ulysses 42-36
PHOTO CREDIT: Leon Volk
GOODLAND — For the second straight week, the Goodland Cowboys had the football late with a chance to erase a six-point deficit.
And for the second straight week, the Cowboys simply ran out of time.
Goodland battled Ulysses for four quarters Thursday night at Cowboy Stadium, but another comeback attempt came up just short as the Tigers escaped with a 42-36 victory.
The loss drops Goodland to 3-2 on the season after beginning the year with three consecutive victories.
The Cowboys had an opportunity to grab control immediately, marching the football down the field on their opening possession. Goodland reached the Ulysses goal line before an interception ended the drive without points.
“If we get that score there on the first drive, I think it’s a lot different of a game, maybe,” head coach Dax Ruhs said afterward.
Goodland, however, continued to answer throughout the night.
Senior Jaxson Miller provided one of the biggest sparks late in the first quarter when he took a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown.
Miller finished with a huge night for the Cowboys, accounting for 225 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns.
Offensively, Goodland had its moments against the Tigers and even reached into the playbook for a successful hook-and-ladder. But Ulysses continually had an answer, thanks in large part to a huge performance from Stryker Berglund.
Berglund accounted for 342 yards of total offense and three touchdowns, creating problems throughout the night with his acceleration, vision and ability to make defenders miss. Ruhs came away especially impressed with the Ulysses junior.
“His acceleration, his start-stop, his vision, the whole thing,” Ruhs said. “He’s just been so amazing.”
Ulysses also presented Goodland with a balanced attack. Ruhs noted that quarterback Caden Ledesma entered the matchup throwing the football efficiently, while the Tigers also had weapons on the outside that forced the Cowboys to account for more than just the running game.
Goodland’s defense was able to limit some of that passing attack, but slowing down the Tigers on the ground proved to be the bigger challenge.
“I thought for the most part we covered pretty decent tonight,” Ruhs said. “Bottling up the run for us is definitely something that we need to polish up if we’re going to make a pretty good run.”
Even as Ulysses continued to put points on the board, the Cowboys never allowed the Tigers to put the game away.
Goodland continued to answer and eventually found itself in a familiar situation — down six points late with the football and an opportunity to potentially win the game.
Just as it had six days earlier in a 26-20 loss at Holcomb, Goodland pushed the game to the closing moments before ultimately running out of time.
“Credit to the kids for doing as well as they did,” Ruhs said. “Put ourselves in the fight and, yeah, kind of came down to the end there again.”
The Cowboys also had to deal with injuries as the night progressed. Joseph Von Lintel and Hudson Short both left the game, forcing Goodland to turn to some of its younger and less-experienced players.
Ruhs was pleased with how those players responded when suddenly thrust into larger roles.
“Unfortunately Joseph and Hud both went out with injuries tonight,” Ruhs said. “Just plugging away. Next-man-up mentality.”
The loss is Goodland’s second straight after its 3-0 start, but both have come by just six points against Holcomb and Ulysses.
And despite the disappointment of two narrow losses, Ruhs said he continues to see the same characteristic from his team that has defined the Cowboys throughout the first five weeks — resiliency.
“There’s not one time this season you could say we’ve given up or a team’s run away on us or anything like that,” Ruhs said. “We’re always in the fight, and the kids are as resilient a group that I’ve ever been around.”
That fight was there again Thursday night.
This time, the Cowboys just came up six points short.
Goodland, now 3-2, will get another opportunity at Cowboy Stadium next week when the Cowboys host rival Colby for Homecoming.
Goodland Coach Dax Ruhs Postgame Comments:
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