10 I The Lovell Chronicle I October 18, 2012
Standings
BY DAVID PECK
Lovell football fans
can now officially plan on
a first-round home play-
off game as the Bulldogs
clinched second place be-
hind undefeated Lyman in
the 2A West with a 47-0
win over the Kemmerer
Rangers Friday afternoon
in Kemmerer.
Now 5-1 in the confer-
ence and 6-1 overall, the
Bulldogs will host a play-
off game next week, prob-
ably Friday night at 7
p.m against the third-
place team from the 2A
East, likely Glenrock or
Wheatland.
It's a long haul to Kem-
merer, and as most teams
are following a long bus
trip, the Bulldogs were a bit
sluggish early in the game
Friday, coach Doug Hazen
said.
"We didn't start out
very well," he said. "We
missed on a couple of big
plays early."
After stopping the
Rangers twice but also fail-
ing to move on their initial
drive, the Bulldogs drove
to the Kemmerer 10, but
quarterback Dylan Hult-
gren was picked off in
the end zone, halting the
drive. After that, however,
the Bulldogs scored seven
touchdowns.
Senior end Cody Sav-
age caught a 10-yard touch-
down pass from Hultgren
that put Lovell up 6-0 at
the end of the first quarter
(point-after kick failed).
The Bulldogs added
three touchdowns in the
second quarter to lead 26-0
at halftime (two of three
PATs good): an 18-yard
strike from Hultgren to
Ryan Clark, a three-yard
run by Dino Collins and a
22-yard scoring pass from
Hultgren to Savage.
Lovell blew the game
wide open in the third when
Hultgren tossed an 18-yard
touchdown pass to Aus-
tin Ellis and Collins scored
on a five-yard run to make
it 40-0 after three. Lovell
completed the scoring early
in the fourth quarter when
Nathan Grant took a screen
pass 54 yards for a touch-
down, and Hazen cleared
his bench after that.
Hazen said he wants
his team to come out strong
in every game, even after a
long road trip, though he ac-
knowledged that is difficult.
"We're concerned, like
the last couple of years
when we've made long trips
to Mountain View, Lyman
and Kemmerer, it takes us
a little while to 'get off the
bus' and into the football
mode," he said. '%Ve were
more talented than Kem-
merer, and we shouldn't
have gone three and out
(early). We had some foolish
penalties and a turnover in
the red zone.
"These are points of em-
phasis for us, and they still
seem to happen, especial-
ly on a long trip. It's worri-
some because we are going
to have to win on the road
to get to the state champi-
onship game."
Lovell finished with
great balance on offense,
302 yards rushing and 224
passing. Collins carried 22
times for 188 yards rush-
ing, Grant seven carries
for 62 yards, Calin McAr-
thur one for 21 yards, Aar-
on Monterde one for 17 and
Savage one for 11.
Hultgren complet-
ed 11 of 17 passes for 224
yards and five touchdowns,
with one interception. El-
lis caught three passes for
50 yards, Clark three for
49, Savage three for 48 and
Grant two for 77.
"Dylan spread it
around," Hazen said.
'T e're still trying to get our
rhythm throwing the foot-
ball. It's getting better."
Kemmerer rushed for
105 yards and passed for
5, and Hazen said the Bull-
Lovell senior
Nathan Grant bursts
up the middle for
a gain against
the Thermopolis
Bobcats on October
5 as Austin Ellis
blocks. The Bulldogs
host Big Piney
Friday at 7 p.m. at
Robertson Stadium.
DAVm PECK PHOTO
Conf. Overall
Team W L W L
Lyman 6 0 7 0
Lovell 5 1 6 1
Mtn. View 4 2 4 3
Kemmerer 3 3 4 3
Pinedale 2 4 3 4
Thermopolis 2 4 2 5
Greybull 2 4 2 5
Big Piney 0 6 1 6
RESULTS
Thursday, Oct. 11
Lyman 51, Pinedale 0
Friday, Oct. 12
Lovel147, Kemmerer 0
Greybul140, Big Piney 14
Mtn. View 28, Thermopolis 0
SCHEDULE
Friday, Oct. 19
Kemmerer at Mtn. View, 3 p.m.
Big Piney at Lovell, 7 p.m.
Lyman at Greybull, 7 p.m.
Pinedale at Thermopolis, 7 p.m.
dogs used a five-man front :
to combat the Ranger run- Conf. Overall
ning game.
PINEY TO TOWN
The Bulldogs will close
out the regular season
by hosting the Big Piney
Punchers Friday at 7 p.m.
The Punchers are last in the
2A West at 0-6, 1-6 overall,
having defeated Burlington
22-12 in the first week of
the season.
"We'll work on our-
selves this week," Hazen
said when asked how the
Bulldogs would approach
the game. "We want to fo-
cus on getting ready for
the playoffs, and it's senior
night, so we want to make
sure our seniors get plenty
of playing time."
Honored will be seniors
Nathan Grant, Cody Sav-
age, Dylan Hultgren, Ryan
Clark, Dino Collins, Jacob
Beck, Nathan Ballard, Tan-
ner Rohrer, Jacob Asay and
Austin Ellis.
Team W L W L
Cokeville 6 0 7 0
Burlington 6 0 6 1
Shoshoni 4 2 5 2
Rocky Mtn. 3 3 4 3
Wind River 2 4 2 5
Saratoga 2 4 2 5
Riverside 1 5 1 6
Wyo. Indian 0 6 0 7
RESULTS
Friday, Oct. 12
Burlington 44, Rocky 26
Cokeville 47, Wind River 7
Shoshoni 33, Saratoga 26
Riverside 46, Wyo. Indian 34
SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 18
Shoshoni at Wyo. Indian, 6 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 19
Cokeville at Burlington, 1 p.m.
Rocky Mtn. at Saratoga, 6 p.m.
Wind River at Riverside, 7 p.m.
'lB
BY DAVID PECK
Intradistrict rivals
Rocky Mountain and Bur-
lington slugged it out on
the gridiron in Cowley Fri-
day afternoon as the Griz-
zlies celebrated home-
coming, but although the
Grizz forged a 20-20 half-
time tie, the visitors from
Burlington pulled away in
the second half for a 44-26
win.
The loss leaves the
Grizzlies, once 4-0, at 4-3,
3-3 in the 1A West Con-
ference, and they will at-
tempt to cement a play-
off spot when they travel
to meet the Saratoga Pan-
thers Friday at 6 p.m.
The Grizzlies came
out fired up against the
Huskies Friday and took
advantage of some ear-
ly Burlington miscues to
take first-half leads.
"I was very pleased
with the way we came out
and took advantage of op-
portunities," coach Da-
vid Hayes said. "We were
fairly opportunistic and
got some breaks in the
first half. I was very hap-
py with the first half."
Rocky went three and
out on the opening pos-
session, but the Burling-
ton punt returner fumbled
Cannon Simmons' punt
and Jake Jones pounced
on the loose pigskin. Giv-
en new life, the Grizz
drove 39 yards to score
thanks to strong running
by Simmons and Ethan
Landers, who followed
strong blocking up front
to gain chunks of yardage.
A penalty assisted the
Grizz. As they were lined
up to attempt a 30-yard
field goal, the Huskies
were whistled for a five-
yard penalty, and on the
next play, Landers broke
a tackle and rolled into
the end zone on a nine-
yard touchdown run. A
bad snap cost the Grizz
the extra point, but they
led 6-0.
After an onside kick
failed to surprise Burl-
ington, the Huskies drove
50 yards in three plays,
with senior running back
DAVID PECK
Rocky Mountain senior halfback Ethan Landers breaks to the outside as fullback
Jake Jones blocks during Friday's homecoming game against Burlington. The
Grizz travel to Saratoga Friday.
bursting around right end
for a 46-yard touchdown
run. The point-after kick
was good, putting Burl-
ington up 7-6.
The Grizz earned one
first down on the ensu-
ing series but had to punt,
and again, the Huskies
handed the Grizz a gift,
fumbling a pitch on the
first play of their next set
of downs. Caleb Horrocks
recovered the fumble for
the Grizz, who then drove
25 yards to score as soph-
omore quarterback Kir-
by Winland hit Landers
out of the backfield with a
swing pass. The senior got
to the corner and scored
from 14 yards out. A run
for two points failed, and
Rocky led 12-7 late in the
first quarter.
Burlington answered
with a 63-yard scoring
drive capped by a 23-yard
run by Mancuso as the
Huskies led 14-12.
Midway through the
second quarter the Griz-
zlies drove 65 yards to
take the lead once again
as Winland and Landers
hooked up for a perfect-
ly-executed screen pass
that covered 56 yards for
a touchdown. Winland hit
Jake Jones for the two-
point conversion, putting
the Grizz up 20-14.
Burlington responded
once again with a scoring
drive, this one covering 62
yards. Mancuso punched
it in from three yards out,
but the Grizz blocked the
PAT, keeping the score
knotted at 20-20 with 3:01
left in the first half.
Rocky drove 34 yards
into Burlington territory,
but penalties set the Grizz
back and they had to punt
in the final seconds of the
half.
SECOND-HALF WOES
The Huskies appeared
to kick their offense into a
higher gear in the second
half as they scored three
touchdowns: a 12-yard
run by Mancuso to cap a
65-yard drive (28-20), a
one-yard run by Land-
on George (36-20) that
capped a 77-yard drive
and after a Rocky touch-
down (36-26) a nine-yard
run by quarterback Pres-
ton Wardell that put the
final nail in the coffin.
"In the second half we
couldn't stop 'em," Hayes
said. "We blew a couple of
chances including a poten-
:: : tial touchdown deep and a
fourth and 15 (for a Burl-
ington first down deep in
i
Rocky territory). That re-
ally hurt us. That was a
back-breaker."
The second play to
which Hayes referred took
place early in the fourth
quarter with Rocky down
28-20. Burlington drove
into Rocky territory, but
the Grizz stiffened to force
a fourth-and-long from
the 23-yard line. Preston
Wardell rolled out and hit
Trevor Wardell for a first
down at the eight, and
George scored two plays
later.
Down by 16, the Grizz
drove 85 yards to score
and stay in the game. The
big play was a 67-yard
bomb from Winland to
Joey Jewell, who turned
on the jets down the right
sideline. A pass for two
failed, but Rocky was in
it trailing 36-26 with 7:51
left before Burlington's fi-
nal drive.
"Coach C (Tobee Chris-
tiansen) did a great job
mixing the offense up and
Kirby Winland had prob-
ably his best game as a
high school football play-
er. He distributed the ball
around, and Coach C did
a great job calling plays
that gave our receivers a
chance to make plays."
Simmons twisted his
ankle early in the game,
and although he came
back in the second half
and Landers ran the ball
well on offense, the Grizz
missed him containing the
run on the outside on de-
fense, Hayes said.
"We'll see how that
goes this week," the coach
said, adding that the Grizz
did lose junior lineman TJ
Willis for the season with
a separated shoulder.
Final statistics were
very close. Rocky rushed
for 143 yards and passed
for 207 for 350 total yards,
while Burlington rushed
for 308 yards and passed
for 72 for 380 yards of to-
tal offense.
Landers finished with
I02 yards rushing on 18
carries, and Jones added
25 yards on nine carries,
Simmons 13 yards on three
carries. Wardell rushed '19
times for 194 yards to lead
Burlington.
Winland completed
eight of 23 passes for 207
yards and three touch-
downs. Landers caught
three passes for 78 yards,
Wilson Flowers two for 28
yards, Jewell one for 67,
Jones one for 25 and Bill
Despain one for 5.
Wardell completed
nine of 16 passes for 72
yards for Burlington.
Jones led the Grizzlies
in defensive points with
28 on 10 assisted tack-
les, three solo tackles, a
blocked kick and a fumble
recovery. Horrocks add-
ed 21 points, Flowers 17,
Landers 16 and Mark Fer-
guson 9.
The game was the fi-
nal home game for seniors
Ferguson, Flowers, Jones,
Landers and Bryce Ward,
who has been injured for
much of the year.
PLAYOFFS?
The Grizzlies control
their own destiny, Hayes
noted. If they beat Sara-
toga Friday they are in
the playoffs at 4-3. If they
lose, he said, the Grizz
could find themselves in
a three-way playoff with
Saratoga and Wind Riv-
er Tuesday - all three at
3-4 -- if Wind River beats
Riverside Friday night. If
the Grizz lose to Saratoga
and Riverside beats Wind
River, Saratoga will make
the playoffs because the
Cougars would be elimi-
nated at 2-5 and Saratoga
would have the head-to-
head advantage over the
Grizzlies.
Saratoga has been up
and down this season but
has been generally strong
over the last four games.
The Panthers fell to Lin-
gle-Ft. Laramie 28-6, to
Burlington 29-8 and to
Cokeville 48-0. They beat
Wyoming Indian 37-6,
fell to Wind River 14-13,
crushed Riverside 38-0
and fell to Shoshoni 33-26.
