That's right--it's not a misprint or a typo. Minco's Bulldogs busted into the Class A rankings for the first time in a long time with their upset of fifth-ranked Hinton last week. The coaches put them at #12 this week and dropped the Comets five spots to tenth. Next week, though, the 'Dawgs may find themselves in the top ten.

Last night in front of an overflow Homecoming crowd, they made it back-to-back in the win column beating Elmore City 14-7.

The Badgers aren't Hinton, to be sure, but they were a pretty good football team with some very good athletes and it was a dogfight down the stretch. Like last week, Minco was a little sloppy handling the ball at times but they made the critical plays when they had to.

After some back and forth early, Trevor Brassfield broke loose on an end-around for 46 yards and took a five-yard yank of his facemask for good measure.

That play gave Minco the deepest possession for either team and they didn't waste it. Brassfield's backfield partner, Jared Jensen, rambled to the left sideline then cut back to daylight for a 20-yard score. Jensen got the ball for the deuce but ran into a gang of white shirts at the half-yard line.

Minco took a 6-0 lead halfway into the first quarter and the score held until early in the third.

Quarterback Josh Overton and wideout Clay Dirickson had hooked up already on a couple of key third-down situations but this time they went for it all. Three minutes into the second half, Overton went up top from the EC 29 and hit Dirickson right in stride for another score. This time Brassfield got the call for the two and punched it in for a 14-0 lead.

Elmore City had threatened a number of times but shot themselves in the foot with numerous false starts and couldn't crack the stingy 'Dawg defense. Five minutes later, Sam Powers threw up a jump ball deep and 6-1 wideout Jordan Terrell came down with it at the Bulldog one. Justin Farris got the call and drove it in for the Badger score. Nathan Roady's PAT cut the lead in half but the Minco defense slammed the door on them through the rest of the third and the entire fourth.

With 39 ticks left, Overton took a knee on his own thirty to seal the win as the large crowd gave their kids a well-deserved standing ovation.

Overton had another effective night running the offense and the two junior tailbacks were workhorses all night, grinding out yardage and killing the clock with a solid running game. Dirickson, a sophomore, had to be the player of the game with some clutch catches, including the eventual winner, and a couple of even more clutch interceptions, including the final dagger with four minutes left.

The big guys in the trenches got the job done all night and center/noseguard Jared Rumley showed some real leadership when it mattered most. The senior captain already spearheaded two huge short-yardage surges to keep crucial drives alive and was disruptive all night in the center of the defense. Just before the Badger touchdown, however, he badly jammed his right thumb and had to come off the field in obvious pain.

Overton, realizing what happened, immediately started taking snaps on the sideline with backup center Caleb Howard. Rumley wouldn't have it. After a couple of plays, he went back in on defense and was back out there over the ball snapping with that badly-jammed thumb when the 'Dawgs got the ball back.

Defensive coordinator John Prock switched Minco from a 4-3 to a 5-2 set this year and it has helped them get two wins. In both games, the defensive unit has been very tough to run on and was in Powers' face a lot this week.

There were a lot of turnovers and a lot of flags but the 'Dawgs fought through both for their second win.

“It feels pretty good,” head coach Steve Justus said after the game. “The kids have been working really hard. We still have some things to work on but it's nice to be 2-0 working on them. Our offense made the big plays and our defense stepped up and played really well again.”