(Riverton, WY) – Quarterback out with a knee injury, all-time leading rusher sidelined with a broken collarbone, leading defensive player on crutches with yet another knee injury, and both wide outs playing with broken hands. It’s the plot for a Hollywood football movie, but it was reality Friday Night at Wolverine Field.
Despite the hurdles, head coach Mark Lenhardt had his team ready and Riverton gave the Cody Broncs everything they wanted in a tight 28-21 loss by the Wolverines in the Class 3-A semi-finals.
“I’ve never been more proud of a team in defeat than last night. We had every excuse to not go out and perform. All the excuses were made for them, and they decided to come out and play,” Riverton head coach Mark Lenhardt said. “To their credit, those kids picked up that plan in a week and executed it well.”
The plan was to throw the ball with opportunistic runs. Junior Cameron Vincent started at quarterback with Blake Gantenbein on the sidelines with a knee injury. Brayden Martin, the Wolverine’s top defender, was also on crutches with an injured knee, and school record-holding running back Hunter Saltsgaver was out with a broken collarbone.
Receiver Clay Sheets played with a broken hand, as did Kaiden Arnold, who had a “flipper” covering his injured hand.
“We always knew Cameron could throw,” Lenhardt said. “I don’t know if I’ve seen a better individual performance in a game on both sides than Cam Vincent, leading us in tackles, running for 100 yards, and throwing for 250.”
The loss was only the second of the season for Riverton, ironically against those same Cody Broncs early in the year. Riverton finishes with a stellar 9-2 overall record. The Broncs move on to the state championship game against Star Valley next Friday at Jonah Field in Laramie.
As County10 play-by-play wizard Jerrad Anderson said as Riverton was poised to pull off the win, “The Broncs have not lost to a Wyoming team with a name other than Star Valley since 2019.”
Friday, they almost did.
Cody has been described as a “NASCAR” offense. They’re fast-paced, no-huddle, and can get a lot of plays off in very little time. It gave the Wolverines fits back in September, but not so much last Friday.
Riverton’s front six, paced by Kayden Leibrecht, Paxton Yeates and Gage Treber “brought the wood” defensively for the Wolverines. The Broncs ran the ball behind two-time all-state quarterback Cache McFadden. When the Broncs threw, McFadden was hurried, rushed, and drilled repeatedly on passing plays.
A Cody punt was covered by the Broncs inside the one-yard line late in the opening period, and Riverton quarterback Cameron Vincent didn’t have much wiggle room. After three plays, the Wolverines gained just a yard.
As Treber dropped back to punt, the back judge said, “Now watch your feet. The blue line is good, the white line is a safety.”
Treber drilled the ball to the Riverton 46.
“We outplayed them in a lot of ways,” Lenhardt said. “We told Gage he was going to get some opportunities. Poor Clay Sheets was playing with three fingers on one hand.”
On first down, McFadden found a seam up the middle and raced 46 yards untouched for the first score of the game. It was the only glaring breakdown of the Riverton defense all night.
Eric Smith took the ensuing kickoff to the 36, and Vincent began slinging the ball around the field. Stepping in as the backup quarterback for Blake Gantenbein, the 6-2 junior threw the ball well, mixing it up with receivers and turning it up when his options were shut down.
Vincent broke around right end on a 22-yard designed run that had the Wolverines in business at the two-yard line. Riverton lost a yard on a Camden Heil run on first down, and Vincent had an incompletion on second down.
A strange play ensued with Vincent passing to tackle Daniel Clawson in the flat. Clawson rumbled to the five, and a debate ensued between game officials and the Cody coaching staff.
After five minutes, the officials threw a flag and declared Clawson guilty of illegal touching.
Tackle Daniel Clawson ended up with an errant pass – h/t Randy Tucker
“We had a screen to Dane,” Lenhardt said. “Cameron just saw someone and threw it, Danny caught it.”
It was no surprise. Clawson was a man possessed, in on every offensive play with key blocks and giving Vincent great protection.
The ball moved back to the 12 on fourth-and-goal. Vincent hit Treber high in the left corner of the end zone for the score, and Heil’s kick knotted the game at 7-7.
Neither team could move on the following two series, but the Broncs mounted a late drive with McFadden scoring the second of his four rushing touchdowns on a one-yard plunge.
On the conversion kick, Treber stretched out and blocked Talich, leaving the score 13-7.
Despite playing with a broken hand, Sheets intercepted McFadden in the third period, then caught a slant from Vincent that moved the ball to the 26. Riverton picked up the first down, then Vincent found Treber in the corner again on a 7-yard touchdown pass. Heil’s conversion lifted the Big Red to a 14-13 lead with 7:45 remaining in the third.
Vincent sacked McFadden to hold off the Broncs, but Riverton couldn’t move the ball either.
“We had them 14-13 and we had a chance to turn them over and took a sack, the only one in the game on 46 attempts. You have to give the line credit,” Lenhardt said.
Treber pinned the Broncs at their five. Cody mounted a 95-yard scoring drive aided by a pair of pass interference calls against the Wolverine secondary.
Cody regained the lead on a four-yard McFadden run and added a two-point conversion for a 21-14 lead with 3:08 left in the third.
Riverton marched back to the Red Zone, with Vincent scampering 28 yards for the big play in the series. In scoring position, the drive ended with McFadden intercepting Vincent at the one-yard line and returning it to the 25.
Riverton’s defense dug in, setting the offense in good field position.
The Wolverines tied the game at 21 on a pass from Vincent to tight end Dane Cox from 22 yards out with 6:27 left in the game.
Any hopes of an upset, or an overtime ended on the ensuing Cody series with the Broncs taking a 28-21 lead with 1:40 left in the contest on a 10-yard McFadden run.
The Wolverines turned it over on downs and Cody ran out the clock via the victory formation.
“There was not one ounce of me that was disappointed. The deck is stacked against you and all you can hope for is for them to compete, and then you’re in it,” Lenhardt said. “
This is a special team and a special group of kids. I think we maximized what we could out of this team. The football gods weren’t real kind to us this year.”
RIVERTON 7 0 7 7 – 21
CODY 7 6 8 7 – 28
First Quarter
COD – Cache McFadden 46-run (Jacob Talich kick) 7:36
RIV -Gage Treber 12-pass from Cameron Vincent (Camden Heil kick) 2:20
Second Quarter
COD – McFadden 1-run (kick blocked) 3:15
Third Quarter
RIV – Treber 7-pass from Vincent (Heil kick) 7:45
COD – McFadden 4-run (Ben Stewart pass from McFadden) 3:08
Fourth Quarter
RIV – Dane Cox 22-pass from Vincent (Heil kick) 6:27
COD – McFadden 10-run (Talich kick) 1:40
Total Offense: Riverton 323, Cody 392
Rushing Offense: 19-99, Cody 234
Passing Offense: 224, Cody 158
Individual Rushing – Riverton – Cameron Vincent 17-99, Eric Smith 1 (-1), Camden Heil 1-1, Cody – McFadden 18-122, Grant 9-22, Richard 3-21, Smith 9-62, Skoric 1-7
Individual Passing: Riverton Cameron Vincent 24-49-2 224, McFadden 15-19-0 158
Individual Receiving: Clay Sheets 4-39, Dane Cox 2-28, Erick Smith 5-13, Payton Larsen 7-65, Gage Treber 6-85, Paxton Yeates 1 (-1); Cody – Grant 2-4, Richard 4-59, Rall 2-56, Bower 4-34, Sander 1(-6), Mortenson 1-11