by Randy Tucker and Carl Cote
There’s a lot on the line Friday at Bill Bush Stadium in Lander when Riverton makes a short trip across the valley to play the Tigers. The winner will most likely be East 3-A Champion and just as likely host Cody in the state semifinals. The loser will also host a first-round game but just as likely have to travel to Afton to play Star Valley in the second round of the playoffs.
Six players, three from each team, shared their thoughts on the upcoming tilt.
Riverton quarterback Blake Gantenbein summed up Friday’s key East 3-A Conference game in Lander for both the Tigers and Wolverines.
“I can’t wait for Friday,” Gantenbein said. “I’ve been waiting for this since last year, you’re always thinking about that Lander game.”
All the guys in red and green on Friday feel the same way. It’s a rivalry, and this time, one with extreme playoff implications.
“It means a lot growing up as a Riverton kid, that Riverton / Lander rivalry, it’s a big game, it means a lot to me,” Gantenbein said.
The seniors this year have been playing each other since they were fourth graders in Junior Football.
Lander won in their seventh-grade and freshman seasons. Riverton has won the last two varsity-level games.
“When we lose to Lander, it’s never a good feeling,” Gantenbein said.
The two high schools are just 25 miles apart, but it could just as easily be 250 miles at times.
“I’m not super friendly with all of them, but I grew up going camping with Brayden Baker,” Gantenbein said.
“It’s about as simple as it gets, it’s a big game,” Gantenbein said. He had praise for his offensive line as well. “We can’t do it without them.”
Lander senior quarterback Paxon Hollingshead will be at the helm for Lander as the biggest football game in the County gets underway Friday. The quarterback is no stranger to the players he’ll be facing on this Riverton squad. This year marks Paxon’s 8th year playing against Riverton teams, and he hopes to make a better mark in his last chance against the Wolverines than he did last year.
“I’m most excited for the game because both teams have been playing good, and we’ve all been competing against each other since childhood,” said Hollingshead.
The Tigers haven’t seen a defense like the Wolverines’ yet, but it’s not spooking the senior quarterback.
“I expect a really good and fun game to watch on Friday,” said Hollingshead. “My mentality is to just do the job in front of me and to only worry about the play I’m on in the moment,” said Hollingshead.
Hunter Saltsgaver looks at Friday’s tilt with a wider view.
“Honestly, it’s a huge game and we’ve been preparing all year for it, but as a team, no matter who we face, we’re focusing on ourselves and as a team we’re trying to get a win,” Saltsgaver said. “How can we get that win?
Saltsgaver knows his opponent well after playing them for the last eight years since the seniors were just 10 years old.
“It’s a huge game, Lander is a good team,” Saltsgaver said. “Lenhardt always says, every game is the same, we’re focusing on getting better as a team.”
Saltsgaver remembers the losses as well as the wins over his career with Lander.
“We lost a really close game as freshmen. As a freshman, you watch the old players lose that game, and then Lenhardt came and the whole culture of the team changed,” he said. “Every time we win a game, it feels good. I remember my freshman year when we squeaked by with one win.”
Last Friday’s game against Buffalo wasn’t the best the Wolverines have played this season.
“The standard is the standard, with as many penalties as we had against Buffalo, you can’t afford that against a good team,” Saltsgaver said.
His counterpart at Lander, Cody West, shares a similar sentiment.
Finding the gaps out of the backfield for Lander is West, who is stepping up in a big way in the absence of his all-state counterpart at running back, Brayden Baker. The bushy blonde-haired senior is ready to lace them up for his final showdown against the Wolverines on Friday.
“It’s an honor to get to play in such a deeply rooted rivalry game,” said West. “I’ve been playing against Riverton for seven years now, so we’re all extremely competitive.”
West knows that Riverton will be a different animal than the teams they’ve faced thus far. “We expect them to bring their best, but we will too,” West shared. “Comparing our records, we’re pretty evenly matched, so I expect this game to come down to the wire.”
He’s a sprinter during the track season, and his teammates say he runs like he hates the ground, so it’s fitting that West has been the source of most of Lander’s offensive yardage since he took over at half back two weeks ago.
“I know I need to dig deep and claw for every single yard to capitalize on every opportunity I get out there,” said West. “With the talent we have on our line, I trust they’ll make the holes I need for success. My goal is to make sure that, when I leave that field, I know that I gave everything I had on every play.”
Part of that talented offensive line West knows will make holes for him during Friday’s matchup is six-foot-four-inch senior Gavin Romer. Romer isn’t a stranger to playing against Riverton either, going into his 10th year, matching up against kids from the Rendezvous City.
“The most exciting part about playing Riverton is the crowd,” said Romer. “It’s always a packed house when we play against Riverton.”
Romer has been sublime, creating holes for Lander’s running backs and giving Paxon Hollingshead time to make a play, all season long. The Rivalry won’t get special treatment from the lineman, who looks at this game the same as any other game as any other.
“I’m going in the same as I do to any other game with the nobody gets by me mentality and to make sure our line does their jobs,” said Romer. “We’ve got to hold our blocks and keep them in front of us for the whole game.”
Riverton and Lander are coming in hot as can be for Friday’s game, with the only loss between the two of them being Riverton’s to number two-ranked Cody. Even with the excellent season of football Lander has showcased through five weeks, Romer knows they’ve got another gear to find against Riverton.
“I expect us to play our best football yet,” Romer commented. “Regardless of the opponent, we need to be playing better football each week.”
Lining up against Romer for most of the night will be 5-10, 210-pound senior Daniel Clawson.
Clawson has a view from the trenches; he’s one of the five guys on the offensive line who get the offense moving, protect the quarterback, and hold the defense at bay.
Commenting on the upcoming rivalry with Lander he said, ““Right now my senior year it means a lot to me, if we win this I can rub it in their faces for the rest of our lives.”
Clawson, like most of the seniors, has played Lander many times since fourth grade.
“I always thought it was pretty even,” he said. “Our seventh-grade year we lost, then we beat them in eighth grade.”
Clawson and his fellow linemen will face a tough Lander defensive front four, and those same Tigers will line up on offense against many of the same Wolverines.
“I think we’ve been putting a lot in this week with game simulations,” Clawson said. “We’ve been getting ready for a good, solid game. I expect a hard-fought game.”
Clawson will line up on most plays across from Lander senior Gavin Romer.
“That’s our plan in general. It’s going to be a hard-fought game either way. At the end of the day, it’s your team against the other team.
It should be a good one.