(Pavillion, WY) – With the final Class 1-A 9-man playoff spot on the line Thursday night at Pavillion, the Wind River Cougars outlasted the visiting Rocky Mountain Grizzlies 6-0 in a hard-fought win.
The win sends the Cougars to top-ranked, unbeaten, East 9-man champion Lingle Ft. Laramie next weekend in a rematch of the opening season game between both schools. The Doggers dominated the Cougars 63-14 in Goshen County two months ago.
Wind River played “rubber band” defense, bend, but don’t break in pitching the shutout over the Grizzlies.
Wind River took the opening kickoff, picked up a pair of first downs then stalled, forcing a punt. Rocky Mountain was impressive on an 11-play drive that moved the ball inside the 10-yard line, but for the second week in a row, the Grizzlies couldn’t pull the trigger in the Red Zone
On a second and goal from the nine-yard line, Jacob Hardcastle intercepted a Lafe Files pass at the goal line, returning the ball to the 10 to end the Rocky Mountain drive with 30 seconds remaining in the opening period.
The Cougars took advantage in the second period on a pair of breakaway runs by senior Mato Amos. The first was a 51-yard scamper with cutbacks against the grain that moved the ball to the 35-yard line. The second came a play later when Amos sprinted through the Rocky Mountain secondary on a 34-yard scoring run, the only one of the game, to give the Cougars a 6-0 lead with 1:22 remaining in the opening half.
Rocky picked up a first down then took a timeout with one second remaining in the half. Files took the snap and tossed a short pass to a wide open Hudson May in front of the Grizzly bench on the east sideline. May nearly broke the play for a 65-yard score but Brayden Tatro ran him down, tackling him at the three-yard line after time had expired.
The Grizzlies had problem with shotgun snaps the entire game. Files scooped up a half dozen that came in skipping off the grass and snagged a few more that were wide or high. On a key third down late in the third period another muffed snap was covered by Remington Martinez and Troy Tidzump who tackled May at the 23-yard line.
Rocky Mountain had problems with clean exchanges – h/t Randy Tucker
The Cougars backed up on the ensuing drive, with Rocky’s Tayt Beall recovering a fumbled at the nine-yard line.
With a first and goal, the Grizzlies lost yardage on back-to-back bad snaps and only an inadvertent whistle kept the Cougars from recovering the ball. The drive stalled and Wind River had the chance to run out the clock with a couple of first downs but weren’t able to do so.
Rocky took the ball near midfield but Amos intercepted Files with just 1:14 left in the game and the Cougars were able to run out the clock via the victory formation.
WIND RIVER 0 6 0 0 – 6
ROCKY MOUNTAIN 0 0 0 0 – 0
Second Quarter
WR – Mato Amos 34-run (run failed) 1:22