Aurora’s big dogs are barking

I hope the moms of the Aurora starting offensive line save this and stick it on the refrigerator. The fellas can skim over it while getting extra protein and barking at the door. 
Tucker Theriot. Ryan Carlson. Alex Wolf. Gabe Gibson. Jacob Molliconi. They deserve their name in print. 
Aurora’s lead dogs up front have been barking since August, creating massive running lanes and picture-perfect passing pockets. 
Many paragraphs written in the last six weeks start with Sam Jones or Wyatt Pollet. However, plenty of them could say, “Did you see Gabe flatten that kid?”
“How did Tucker do that? That kid is so much bigger than him.” “Ryan is such a nice kid but he plays like his hair is on fire.” “Nothing gets past Alex in the middle.” “Look at Jacob pull around the edge!”
Through six games, Aurora is averaging 267 yards on the ground. That’s double the national high school average. It’s 1,602 team yards to be exact. 
The Huskies average six yards per carry. In all but one game, they’ve been well above 200 yards and the one they weren’t, Lincoln Pius X, they had 180.
Ask high school football diehards around Nebraska and they know Aurora traditionally has a stout running game. The Huskies pride themselves on playing physically and wearing opponents out. 
Sure, Aurora has had two tight ends and a quarterback (basketball player) reach the professional ranks, but they’ve also had a long line of incredible offensive linemen and running backs. 
Aurora chief barking officer (head coach) Kyle Peterson loves offensive linemen and has said more than once that the Husky front five doesn’t match up in size to a lot of teams they’ve played. Yet, Aurora wins the battle anyway.
“They’re tough,” Peterson said of his team’s offensive front following the Norris game. “Our guys probably didn’t pass the eye test against Ralston, right? We looked similar to Pius. But our guys are tough and physical. They love playing physical football and buy into what we want to do. It’s the style of football at Aurora we’ve tried to play and there’s longevity to that.”
Sure, the easy answer is that all of these guys are Huskies. But, for the sake of having fun, let’s give them comparisons to the rest of the dog kingdom.
Gabe is a corgi. He’s always smiling, especially when he’s hitting people. He’s loud and confident. He’s a bit on the short side, but the guy never quits. The guy herds defenders away from the football. 
Ryan is a golden retriever. He’s extremely loyal and would do anything you ask him to. He’s a caring player but one that will lock in and work harder than anyone. He loves to get out and play, no matter the weather. 
Alex is a german shepherd. He’s really smart, getting his teammates in the right looks and schemes. He’s got that protective instinct. The center of the Aurora offensive line, he excels at getting everyone in order. 
Jacob is a bulldog. He’s gentle and laid back but plays with a wide stance. Not sure how stubborn he is away from the football field but he sure plays with an aggressive stubbornness. But please, don’t mistake his easygoing nature for laziness. 
Tucker is a beagle. He always seems to find himself tussling with someone who is bigger than he is, but holds his own every single time. He can be an escape artist, too, which helps him on the other side of the ball. 
Now, for the game we’ve waited almost two months for. Aurora at Scottsbluff. This is such a fun game, man. Road trip be damned. 
This one features two of the best rushing teams in Class B. Scottsbluff has 1,829 yards on the ground through its 6-0 start, an average of 305 yards. The Bearcats have 24 rushing touchdowns and average eight yards per carry. 
Aurora and Scottsbluff have provided us some dandies over the years, too. However, the Huskies have won the last four games in the series. 
The Huskies have won two of its last three trips out to the Bluffs, the most recent of those in 2021 when Aurora won its only game in the last decade-plus without Peterson on the sidelines (he missed the road trip with an illness). 
However, with Aurora playing in Class C1 the past four years, these two diehard programs haven’t met on the gridiron in that span. 
Football is better when the traditional red, white and black stripe meets the big block S. Even if it takes 330 miles to make it happen. 
See you out there, boys. Let’s get the dogs barking. 
RICHARD RHODEN can be reached at sports@hamilton.net.