WRIGHT – Mistakes proved costly last Friday in the Lingle-Fort Laramie Dogger’s 20-7 loss to the Wright Panthers.

“It was disappointing,” L-FL coach Brandon Gifford said. “We made too many mistakes. We weren’t fundamentally sound in some areas and it cost us.”

Over the course of the game, the Doggers made 10 trips to the red zone, and only managed one score the entire night.

Gifford described it as a snowball effect.

“We only scored one touchdown because of mistakes, missed assignments, penalties, you name it,” he said. “We’ve had a good talk this past weekend, and we need to refocus and get better.”

Trailing 14-0 early in the fourth quarter, Dogger sophomore Nolan Spears scored the lone touchdown of the game on a quarterback keeper around the outside.

“He used his speed to get to the edge, which is something we wanted to do all game,” Gifford said. “It worked. It looked beautiful. We were able to put the extra point through.”

Cutting the deficit in half gave the Doggers some hope late in the game, but the team was unable to find the end zone again for the remainder of the game.

“We had chances to win the game,” Gifford said. “Again, we are young, but we have to start learning some of those things. We are going to have to group up fast if we want to have a chance to win any more games.”

The Doggers (0-3 overall and 0-2 in the 9-Man East) hosts the Niobrara County Tigers (2-1 and 1-1) at 7 p.m. at Kirk Field.

“They are a tough team. They run the stuff they have been for decades,” Gifford said. “They are downhill, in your face, off tackles, sweeps, and they have really good play action. We are going to have to be disciplined and match their intensity and pace.”