Cheyenne East has been to Fremont County four times to play football. The first two trips were losses to the Lander Tigers in the 1990s and the third a 2002 loss to Riverton in the Class 5-A Consolation championship 28-7.
They picked up their first win in County 10 Thursday Night with a 30-8 win by their junior varsity over Shoshoni in a 9-man contest. The game was a replacement contest scheduled after St. Stephen’s canceled their football season.
The loss is the third in a row for the Wranglers this season and came on Homecoming Night.
The T-Birds set the tone for the game on the first play, an incomplete half-back pass. Their first series lasted just 23 seconds with three incomplete passes and a run that fell short of the first down marker.
Shoshoni faced a huge Cheyenne East line of 6-5 260 pound Isaac Clay, 6-3 240 pound Lance Davis, and 6-1 220-pound David McDowell but it was the play of 6-1, 210-pound center Colby Thompson that blew holes in the Wrangler defense on inside runs.
The size disparity proved to be the difference in the game. T-Bird quarterback Kaenan Zowada had all the time he needed to throw the ball, while Shoshoni signal caller Braxton Mills was on the run constantly.
The Wrangler running backs of Carson Kisling, Wiley Philleo, and Morgan Neil were more often met in the backfield by defensive linemen and linebackers than they were across the line of scrimmage.
Kisling was blasted repeatedly with textbook-style shoulder contact, lift the legs tackling, and driven hard to the ground, but he bounced up each time and went back to the huddle.
Shoshoni held their own until the first play of the second period when East capped a short drive on a two-yard Wyatt Sellnow run. In quick succession, the Thunderbirds tacked on three more touchdowns and conversions to blow the game open by the half at 30-0.
Shoshoni’s best offense came on short screen passes just behind the jailbreak-style rush that East generated. The play worked three times, but Brennan Lamb read the play on the fourth try and intercepted Mills late in the third period.
To the credit of the Cheyenne East coaching staff, they had a chance to score again before the half and elected to take a knee rather than run up the score.
In the second half, Thunderbird reserves played most of the game and Shoshoni was able to move the ball against them.
The Wranglers entered the red zone twice, once with a first-and-goal at the three-yard line, but penalties and a pair of sacks pushed them back to the 23 and they turned the ball over on downs at the 15.
Shoshoni scored late in the contest when Wiley Philleo broke a tackle and raced 45 yards for the score. Mills hit Philleo on the conversion for the final score.
Shoshoni hits the road again next Friday traveling to Cowley to play 1-1 Rocky Mountain. The Grizzlies edged Wright 22-19 in their opening game but were blasted at home by top-ranked Big Piney 58-0.
Shoshoni 0 0 0 8 – 8
Cheyenne East JV 0 30 0 0 – 30
Second Quarter
CE – Wyatt Sellnow 2-run (Sellnow pass from Treyden Johnson) 11:54
CE – Liam Fox 15- pass from Kaenan Zowada (Zowada run) 9:35
CE – Johnson 2-run (Sellnow kick) 7:08
CE – Fox 50-pass from Zowada (Sellnow kick) 1:48
Fourth Quarter
SHO – Wiley Philleo 45-run (Philleo pass from Braxton Mills) 2:24