Late FG ends Buffs’ season

One of the most impressive seasons in Greybull High School football history ended in disappointing fashion Friday night when the Buffs lost their semifinal game to Rocky Mountain, 35-34.

These Buffs will be remembered for winning first nine games, becoming the first Greybull team since 1989 to finish the regular season unbeaten and soundly defeating Lusk in the quarters before meeting their match in a Grizzlies team looking to avenge an earlier 22-14 loss.

Senior Will Watts won it for the visitors, converting a 25-yard field goal from the left hash with just 3 seconds left in a game that saw the lead change hands five times.

Three days later, Coach Jeremy Pouska was still trying to process it.  “On the one hand, I’m just extremely proud of the team and how it performed all year,” he said. “But on the other, we’re all just really bummed that we didn’t pull off a win.”

The rematch resembled the week five game only in intensity and fan fervor.  While the Buffs led the first clash wire to wire, building a 16-0 lead and preserving it with late defensive takeaways, it was the Grizzlies who played from in front in the rematch. They started fast, with Triffen Jolley scoring on a 20-yard run to cap an all-run, no-pass drive.

But the Buffs answered with Caden Hunt run to tie it, followed by a two-point conversion pass from Hunt to Yandel Hernandez that made it 8-6 early in the second quarter. A fourth-down conversion from their own 28 kept the drive alive. The Buffs needed 5 yards; they got 5 and just a bit more on a Hunt sneak.

Of the aggressive play-call, Pouska said, “If we were going to lose, we were going to lose because we gave it everything we had ... and we were going to go down swinging.” 

The Buffs tacked on another second quarter score, that coming on a 48-yard pass from Hunt to Sanford on fourth-and-8, but still went into halftime trailing 25-14 because Rocky scored three touchdowns in the frame. Jolley and Moss each ran for one and Moss threw for another, connecting with Cooper Ward in the final minute.

It was the first time all season that the Buffs trailed at the break. Pouska said coaches spent halftime “reminding the kids we had 24 minutes of football left” and that “we were very capable of scoring  points” against the Grizzlies.

The Buffs came out determined with a 16-play, nearly seven-minute drive to open the third, culminating in a 4-yard touchdown run by Bennett Sanford that brought the Buffs within 25-20.

It took Rocky Mountain just two plays to strike back, however, as Ward knifed through the Greybull defense for a 73-yard run. With the kick, the Grizzlies went back up two scores, 32-20.

The Buffs dominated the rest of the quarter and much of the fourth, getting touchdowns from Hunt, on a 1-yard-run, and Jesse Brown, on a 6-yard scamper, with the latter giving Greybull its first lead.

Their fans roaring, the Buffs had a chance to end it on Rocky’s next drive. Facing a fourth-and-10 from their own 40 with 1:40 left, Moss took the snap and rolled right, but spun around and threw back to Ward. With a pair of blockers in front, he rumbled for 25, taking it to the Greybull 35.  Moss followed with a 21-yard run to set up the stage for the winning field goal.

Just as they did in the first encounter, the Buffs finished with an edge in total offense, gaining 411 yards to Rocky’s 303, and had more first downs, 22-14. 

But the Grizzlies had more momentum-swinging big plays. Of Rocky’s 303 yards, 241 came on four plays, including runs of 70, 54 and 73 along with a pass of 44. On their other 35 plays from scrimmage, the Griz gained just 62.

“Their interior linemen did a great job getting to linebacker depth ... and I think their running backs ran harder than they have all year, so hats off to them,” said Pouska.

With the Grizzlies focused on taking way runs to the outside, fullback Caiden Sorenson had his best rushing game of the season, gaining 135 yards on 25 carries. Sanford added 102 yards on 16 carries and Hunter another 84 on 16 totes.

With their magical season over, Pouska and the Buffs huddled for a final time at midfield.

“It stings, it really does,” he said. “But I told the kids, eventually, time will heal what we’re feeling right now and that I don’t want one point to define what we accomplished as a team and as a program.

“I thanked the seniors for being amazing leaders, for helping to continue cultivating the mentality and brotherhood we’re trying to create with the football program.  It’s about being there, supporting each other, lifting each other up, and learning that, in both success and failure, they can count on each other.”

The Grizzlies will face 10-0 Pine Bluffs Saturday at 1 p.m. in Laramie.

The state’s coaches are expected to meet Nov. 20 to select all-conference and all-state teams.

Greybull 0 14 14 6 — 34 

Rocky Mt. 6 19   7 3 — 35

RM — Triffen Jolley 20-yard run.

G — Caden Hunt 6-yard run (Yandel Hernandez pass from Hunt).

RM — Mason Moss 1-yard run (Will Watts kick)

RM — Jolley 1-yard run.

G — Bennett Sanford 48-yard pass from Hunt 

RM — Cooper Ward 9-yard pass from Moss 

G — Bennett Sanford 4-yard run.

RM — Ward 73-yard run (Watts kick)

G — Hunt 1-yard run (Sanford run).

G — Jesse Brown 6-yard run.

RM — Watts 24-yard field goal.

RUSHING — Rocky Mt. 31-303; Greybull 67-347 (Caiden Sorenson 25-135, Bennett Sanford 16-102, Caden Hunt 16-84, Jesse Brown 10-26).

PASSING — Rocky Mt. 4-of-8 for 98 yards; Greybull 2-of-5 for 51 yards. 

RECEIVING — Sanford 1-48, Hernandez 1-3.

DEFENSIVE STANDOUTS — Bennett Sanford led with 30 points (7 assisted tackles, 4 solo tackles, 1 fumble recovery), followed by Jordi Araiza with 13 (5 assists, 3 solos, 2 tackles for loss), Caiden Sorenson with 10 (4 assists, 3 solos) and Yandel Hernandez with 10 (4 assists, 1 solo, 2 TFLs, 1 pass breakup).