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November 8, 2012 I The Lovell Chronicle I 9
Bulldogs battle from behind to edge Big Horn
BY DAVID PECK
It's hard to adjust to
playing a tough opponent
when you've been winning
games consistently by sev-
en or eight touchdowns, so
perhaps it's understandable
that the Lovell Bulldogs took
some time to get up to speed
during Friday's semifinal
football playoff game at Big
Horn.
Trailing 21-7 in the sec-
ond quarter and 28-15 early
in the third, the Bulldogs dug
deep, found something with-
in themselves and rallied for
a thrilling 29-28 win over the
Big Horn Rams.
"I think they did learn
a little about themselves,"
coach Doug Hazen said. "As
coaches we were really proud
of the effort they gave. Ev-
eryone felt a little bad for Big
Horn, because both teams
played their guts out. When
you win or lose by a point
you know you're pretty even-
ly matched. We were lucky
enough to be on the winning
side."
The win carries the Bull-
dogs to the state champion-
ship game Saturday at War
Memorial Stadium in Lara-
mie for the second straight
year, and once again they
will take on the Lyman Ea-
gles. Kickoffis at 10 a.m.
Hazen said he was
pleased with how the Bull-
dogs overcame the deficits,
refused to quit, made ad-
justments and battled back
Friday.
'Tou can translate this
game into how life can be,"
he said. "We were down big,
kept fighting and plugging
away at it, stayed the course
and good things happened."
Fired up at home and
playing with a stiff wind at
their back, which affected
Lovell kicking and field po-
sition, Big Horn was almost
unstoppable in the first quar-
ter and scored a touchdown
the first three times the
Rams had the ball, showing
balance with a crisp passing
attack and a strong running
game.
DAVID PECK
Senior Jacob Beck (51) and teammates Morgan May (58), Calin McArthur (20) and Aaron Monterde (40)
celebrate following Lovell's dramatic 29-28 win over Big Horn Friday afternoon.
"It's very difficult to run
a scout offense to mimic what
they do," Hazen said. "We
had to change our coverage
a little. There was a hole in
our coverage, and we weren't
getting a lot of pressure on
them. Even when we blitzed
we weren't getting there,
and that opened up holes
underneath.
"We were wary about
getting beat deep, and we did
a good job preventing that,
but that opened up some
lanes underneath."
EARLY BURST
After forcing Lovell three
and out to start the game,
Big Horn came out throwing
but also had some big gains
with a trap running play to
quick back Will O'Dell. A
punt into the wind and a nice
return gave Big Horn a short
field on the first series, and
the Rams drove 32 yards in
seven plays as quarterback
Connor McCafferty connect-
ed with Lucas Wollenman for
a 20-yard gain on fourth and
six, which set up a three-yard
run by Colter Carzoli.
After being stymied on
their first drive, the Bull-
dogs drove 80 yards to score
on their next possession. Key
plays included a 19-yard pass
from Dylan Hultgren to Na-
than Grant out of the back-
field, a 23-yard run off tackle
left by Dino Collins, a six-
yard pass to Austin Ellis and
a 14-yard touchdown run by
Collins to the right side that
saw him bounce outside and
dash down the sideline to
paydirt. Cody Savage's point-
after kick knotted the score
7-7 with 3:47 left in the first
quarter.
"They were keying on
Dino, but that's nothing new
for us," Hazen said. "Every
team keys on Dino, but they
were more evenly matched.
It was much harder to break
a big run."
Big Horn answered the
Lovell touchdown with a 62-
yard drive as O'Dell burst
for 33 yards on the trap
play, McCafferty kept for
six and then hit Wollenman
wide open over the mid-
dle for 13. McCafferty then
went nearly untouched up
the middle from nine yards
out for the touchown as Big
Horn led 14-7 late in the
first period.
Lovell went three and
out on the ensuing series and
Savage's punt was knocked
down by the wind and car-
ried only 23 yards. It took 10
plays, but Big Horn eventu-
ally punched it in after con-
verting another fourth-down
pass over the middle, this
time for 15 yards, which set
up an eight-yard touchdown
pass from McCafferty to Wol-
lenman four minutes into the
second quarter, putting Big
Horn up 21-7.
Lovell's passing game
wasn't eharp early, though it
proved to be a huge factor lat-
er, and two incompletes led
to the Bulldogs again going
three and out, but this time
Savage boomed the punt 63
yards to the end zone with
the wind now at his back.
"I can't say that I wasn't
nervous," Hazen said. "We
just couldn't stop them at
that point. But we weren't
far off. It was some little
things like a missed tackle or
a being a little soft in cover-
age. We knew it was correct-
able, that we were a couple
adjustments away from be-
ing just fine."
Big Horn started to
march again as O'Dell
weaved his way for 22 yards
and McCafferty ran a boot-
leg for 14. But after Big
Horn reached Lovell terri-
tory the Bulldogs stiffened
as they stopped the run and
put pressure on McCafferty.
On fourth and eight at the
Lovell 45, Big Horn tried a
fake punt and the Bulldogs
smelled it out, stopping the
run after only three yards.
The stop seemed to ener-
gize the Bulldogs, who drove
58 yards to score. Collins
rambled for eight, Hultgren
hit Savage for 20, Collins
got five more and Hultgren
found Calin McArthur over
the middle deep and the ju-
nior turned and busted into
the end zone for a 25-yard
touchdown play.
FIRE!
A motion penalty on Sav-
age's successful PAT actual-
ly turned to the Bulldogs' ad-
vantage when on the ensuing
re-kick the snap from cen-
ter was wide and slipped off
holder Hultren's hands. The
senior yelled "fire" to initiate
an emergency two-point con-
version play, then looked for
an open receiver. Grant, lin-
ing up on the left wing as a
blocker, broke to the outside,
caught Hultgren's short pass
and dashed into the end zone
for the two-point conversion-
a play that would later come
to haunt the home team.
Lovell was back in the
game trailing 21-15 with 2:08
to play in the first half.
"As coaches we were
very pleased with our kids
in that they looked like they
had practiced it over and
over again so they just react-
ed," Hazen noted. "It wasn't
something brand new for
them."
Big Horn went to a two-
minute drill and drove to
the Lovell 30, but McAr-
thur picked off McCafferty
at the 18 to end the drive -
only the second interception
of the season thrown by the
Big Horn quarterback. Lovell
drove to the 44 but ran out of
time as the half ended.
COMEBACK
The second half was al-
most all Lovell except for one
play.
"We did some blitzing
- picked our spots - and we
also tried to move our defen-
sive linemen around to stop
the trap play," Hazen said.
"We changed our coverage,
which was a bit of a gamble.
We're not typically a man-to-
man team, but we went to
a loose man-to-man to take
away the routes they were
running against us."
Big Horn took the open-
ing kickoff and on the second
play running back Scott Pas-
sini slipped out around left
end, broke a tackle and raced
See 'BULLDOGS,' page 10
It's Lovell and Lyman again for state title game rematch
BY DAVID PECK
Last year the Lovell
Bulldogs defeated the Ly-
man Eagles twice en route
to an 11-0 season and
Lovell High School's sec-
ond state football title, top-
ping the Eagles 21-13 in the
state championship game
in Laramie.
Saturday, the Bulldogs
and Eagles will meet for the
fourth time in two years as
they battle on Jonah Field
at War Memorial Stadium in
Laramie, and like last year's
second game, this one is for
the title.
Kickoff is scheduled for
10 a.m.
Lyman edged Lovel120-6
in Lyman back on week three
of the season (Sept. 14) in a
game that was a one-touch-
down game until the Bull-
dogs allowed the Eagles to
score late in hopes of scoring
themselves, converting an
on-side kick and then scor-
ing again. It was their only
hope as Lyman was running
out the clock.
The Bulldogs on Satur-
day will be fighting to not be
the two-game sweep victim
the Eagles were a year ago.
"We're pretty familiar
with them, and they're fa-
miliar with us," coach Doug
Hazen said. "We'll do our
normal thing. At this point
we're prepared to do any-
thing. Lyman is a good foot-
ball team, and this is for all
the marbles."
Like last year, both
teams come into the games
with high-powered offenses.
After nine games (first round
of playoffs), Lyman had the
top offense in Class 2A with
378.8 yards per game, and
Lovell was a close second and
virtually tied at 378.3 yards
per contest. Lovell, however,
was averaging 9 yards per
play, Lyman 7.3.
Lyman has been the top
defensive team this season,
allowing just 92.8 yards per
game through nine games,
and Lovell was third at 216.7
yards per contest - much
of that in the second half
against second- and third-
string players.
Lyman's top weapon is
receiver Cisco Taylor (#1),
who is fourth in the state in
receiving at 56.7 yards per
game and has 34 receptions
for 510 yards and 11 touch-
downs. Bobby Wingeleth
(#33) has 17 catches for 310
yards and four touchdowns.
Quarterback Bransen Brad-
shaw (#44) has completed
79 of 130 passes (61 percent)
for 1166 yards and 22 touch-
downs, with 10 interceptions.
For Lovell, Dylan Hult-
gren has completed 54 of 96
passes (56 percent) for 957
yards with 18 touchdowns
and just four interceptions
(through nine games). Cody
Savage is Hultgren's top tar-
get with 19 receptions for
451 yards and nine touch-
downs through the Glenrock
game. Ryan Clark had 15 re-
ceptions for 148 yards and
four TDs.
Dino Collins leads the
state in rushing for the Bull-
dogs at 153.7 yards per game
(playing less than half a
game, on average), carrying
116 times for 1,383 yards
and 20 touchdowns. Na-
than Grant had 483 yards
rushing after nine games
on 43 attempts, with four
touchdowns.
Quarterback Brad-
shaw has 109 attempts for
698 yards and 15 touch-
downs to lead Lyman. Kyle
Stokes (#2) is the top run-
ning back with 667 yards
on 82 carries, scoring 10
touchdowns.
"Their strength is that
they have a lot of depth,"
Hazen said. "Their defense
swarms the football, and
they haven't allowed a lot of
points, I think three touch-
downs total.
"They bottled us up in
Lyman and we didn't throw
the ball really well. We had
five turnovers and three
were interceptions.
"It will be aheck of a
game."
