LOUISIANA, Mo. — The 2023 Louisiana Bulldogs Football team has had a shaky start. The Dawgs are currently 2-2 in the season. The season opener was against the longtime rivals, the Bowling Green Bobcats. After a long fight, the Bulldogs ended up 18-54. Their first win of the season was against the Crystal City Hornets, just a week later after their home opener. After losses in the past, the Bulldogs finally came up on top against the Hornets 12-8. Two weeks ago, the Bulldogs traveled to Columbia to take on the Father Tolton Trailblazers. The Dawgs could not manage to stop the Trailblazers from scoring. After scoring a few touchdown passes, the Dawgs ended with a score of 21-48. Last week, the Bulldogs picked up their second win of the season against the North Callaway Thunderbirds. They managed to stop the T-Birds from scoring much which resulted in a final score of 31-14. The season is almost halfway through for Louisiana but they have many improvements to make if they want to see their record improve.

“Commitment” is the word that Coach Greg Pitzer used to describe what the team needs to work on as a whole. He believes they need to show up to practice ready to play and same goes for games. Pitzer also believes they need to improve with the basic fundamentals such as blocking and tackling. When asked about what future games look like for the Bulldogs, he said, “The rest of the season is conference so everyone is win-able for sure, it just depends on week to week who the better team is.” He believes that the leaders and vital players for the team currently are Juniors Brady Sheppard and Ben Nictula and Seniors Ethen Harrison and Alec Polston. He trusts them the most to get that win at the end of the game, no matter what the score is. Although many of the vital players for the team graduated last year, there are many others who are stepping up to take on those positions.

There will be a battle of the Bulldogs this Friday night as the Louisiana Bulldogs travel to South Callaway. Kickoff is at 7pm.