Dubois made a valiant effort last Saturday in Casper just to reach the playoffs, followed by a coin toss that eliminated Casper Christin to send the Rams to Big Horn County in an opening round 6-man playoff tilt with North 1-A 6-man champion Burlington.
It didn’t end well for the Rams in the 60-8 season-ending loss. Dubois finished the season 4-5 overall.
The Rams were banged up entering the game, as is often the case late in the season.
“Dylan Wagner couldn’t even move, he just played offensive line with an ankle injury,” Dubois head coach Dan O’Brien said.
O’Brien praised Burlington.
“They’re a good program, the score doesn’t really say what happened,” O’Brien said. “We moved the ball a lot, we just couldn’t punch it in. It’s been our Achilles heel all year.”
Dubois trailed 22-0 late in the second period after mounting a couple of deep drives that fizzled in the Red Zone.
The Rams’ only score of the game came with 6:43 remaining in the opening half. Senior quarterback Zander Hawkins capped a drive with a nine-yard scamper. Wagner added the conversion kick, and the Rams were in business, trailing 22-8.
O’Brien has often gone to the onside kick, a trend that is spreading throughout 6-man football.
Wagner hit a perfect short kick, and Dylan Chamley recovered it. The Rams moved the ball to the 11 for a first and goal, but a bad pitch sent the ball back to the 32. They moved the ball to the eight, but a block in the back penalty, 20 yards behind the play, set up a huge 44-yard penalty that ended the drive.
After that, it was all Burlington with 38 unanswered points.
“With this group of kids, I can’t be disappointed with what we did this year,” O’Brien said. ”They hung in there. We lost three conference games in the middle of the season, then we did what we had to do with Casper Christian to get in.”
Defensively, the Rams were in the right position to make plays, but missed too many tackles.
“They beat us on some 6-man stuff; they have a good scrambler in Cole Walker,” O’Brien said.
Missed opportunities made a huge difference in the game’s outcome.
“Looking back at it, we were about five tackles and five blocks from that being a one-score game,” O’Brien said.
One play that stood out came on the final series of the opening half when the Rams ran a reverse, nearly springing Dylan Chamley, but blew up with a missed block on the edge.
Chamley and Hawkins both tallied 1,000 all-purpose yards this season.
“My freshman, Cam Hinkle, had a good game, with 10 tackles and 8 carries for 50 yards,” O’Brien said.
The Rams graduate just four players, including workhorses Hawkins and Wagner.
“We should be competitive next year,” O’Brien said. “Seth Dvergsdal, Chamley, Hinkle, Benji Nguyen all return. I think the future is bright for the next few years, our middle school was undefeated.”
The Rams were stymied through the air, failing to complete a single pass in nine attempts. They had 243 yards on the ground.
“I’m looking forward to next year,” O’Brien said.