'Tonight, he was awesome': Gage Bowers powers Pretty Prairie over Fairfield in Bulldogs' best start since 2015

PRETTY PRAIRIE – A scoring-filled first half and quick second half mounted a district opening win to make some history on the Pretty Prairie Bulldogs’ homecoming night.

The Bulldogs (3-1) are off to their best start since 2015 after routing the Langdon-Fairfield Falcons 63-18 Friday night in Pretty Prairie in The Hutchinson News Game of the Week.

Bulldogs quarterback Gage Bowers powered Pretty Prairie on the ground and through the air with five total touchdowns in the homecoming-shortened night. The game ended after a two-point conversion with 5:40 to go in the third quarter pushed the Bulldog's lead to 45 points: the mercy rule.

"It feels great," Pretty Prairie first-year head coach Matt Goering said. "I think we can compete. We have a different mindset this year than we have over time."

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Since the 2018 season, the Bulldogs have combined for one only eight wins. Now 3-1 on the year and 1-0 in district with Friday's dominant victory over Fairfield, Goering thinks the mentality around Pretty Prairie may turn around.

"I'm happy for the boys because I don't know if we got used to losing, but we got to be where it was OK to lose," Goering said. "I feel like we're turning that around where we are going to lose some games, but we're to the point now where it's OK to lose. We're better than that, and we can compete with anyone, and it's been a while since we've had that mindset around here."

Bowers has been the centerpiece around the Bulldogs offense, and as only a sophomore, Goering thinks Bowers has settled in well with a big role, especially with Friday's performance. In the loss last week to Pratt-Skyline, Bowers had an off game but bounced with this week.

"He's playing great," Goering said. "We went over to Skyline, and he wasn't his best. So, I wondered how he would come back from that, and tonight he was awesome. Just seeing that and a lot of growth and guys believing in him. He's playing well."

Bowers talked about the start for the team and said the feeling is great to have, especially after many losing seasons.

"There's no other feeling like this in the world other than knowing you're with a great group of kids out here doing what we love to do best," Bowers said. "That's winning football games.

"We're going to go out and work hard every week in practice."

Although the victory puts this year's team in the history books, next week's matchup is against one of the top teams in the state in Argonia-Attica. Goering said that one will be the game where they see where the team is at.

"I think the biggest thing is mistake-free," Goering said. "We can't turn the (ball) over. Everyone does their job, but the biggest thing is no turnovers. Our offense is really good unless we shoot ourselves in the foot. I know we don't have any good drives to give away next week."

A couple of those turnovers were fumbles on offense, but Bowers said those mistakes will be corrected and he will step up in those big-time moments.

"You just got to make sure to keep your head up," Bowers said. "No one-man show. It's a team."