Aurora football falls on field; shines as community

Aurora football took their lumps in their week one loss to Seneca by a score of 44-8. However, there's a special feeling in Houn’ Dawg nation. Sure, there is excitement with week one of Friday Night Lights, but the buzz around Aurora and first year head coach Brandon Pitts brought the Dawg faithful out in droves.
“It was awesome," said Pitts."I looked out here and I see full stands. I see a full track. That is what I want. That is what it is going to take to change and beat a Seneca. Their whole town came. Our student section came out and they were excited and that is saying something when you’re down 44-8.”
On the field the Dawgs were hot out of the gate, as the big Dawgs up front powered a 50-yard drive but ended in a failed fourth down attempt. This drive marked the first game action for senior quarterback Kelton Brown since eighth grade. Seneca responded with a long drive that resulted in a Jackson Marrs touchdown, his first of four. A punt and another Marrs punch in gave the Indians a 16-0 lead after one.
Brown and fellow senior wideout Daunte Floyd found chemistry early with a deep 38-yard dime to bring the Dawgs inside the 15-yard line. The drive found pay dirt as a play action rollout to the right found the Brown-Floyd connection again, this time for six. The Dawgs liked what they saw and ran a very similar play that resulted in Floyd catching the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 16-8.
Unfortunately for Aurora, Marrs was nearly unstoppable as he found the end zone six minutes later for his third TD of the day. The Dawgs went to the locker room trailing 24-8.
The third quarter was when the game got away from the host squad, as Marrs scored his final touchdown in the opening drive of the half. The Indians defense forced two turnovers in the first two Aurora possessions of the second half, which ended up snowballing into a 44-8 defeat to the Indians.
Aurora's Brown led the team in both passing and rushing, completing 7-of-13 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown, while gaining 55 yards on 16 carries. Junior Evan Hartwigsen gained 41 yards on the ground on 10 carries, and Floyd led the receivers with 95 yards on six receptions.
Senior Jackson Cline led the defense with eight tackles including one for a loss.
“It was a lot of fun," Brown said following his return to the gridiron. "I wasn’t sure how it was going to go this year but even though we lost, it was a lot of fun.”
Aurora falls to 0-1 on the year. They will return to action Friday as they travel to Cassville.