Bulldogs edge Lyman in come-from-behind thriller

The Lovell Bulldogs couldn’t have scripted a better ending than the single-minute drill they executed against the Lyman Eagles Friday night. Down 22-18 with 1:24 left in the game, the Bulldogs drove 51 yards in 33 seconds to take the lead and win the game, 25-22, to cap homecoming week.

The game was closer than many expected. Both teams came in 0-2, but Lyman hadn’t scored a point in two games, falling to Burns and Cokeville by a combined 50-0, while the Bulldogs had lost to top-ranked Big Horn and second-ranked Mountain View by a combined 11 points.

But the game was anything but easy for the Bulldogs, who had to battle from behind three times to pull off the win.

“To Lyman’s credit, they made some personnel adjustments and added a couple of guys that they hadn’t had,” head coach Nicc Crosby said. “It really made a difference for them, particularly their offensive adjustments, and they executed a lot better than they had been. They had a few different formations and blocking schemes in their heavy sets that were problematic for us. We had a hard time finding answers for them.

“They were a lot more vanilla on the first couple of downs, and then they used some unbalanced formations, some counters, and just really worked their angles on us. They’d pound up the middle, pound up the middle, and then they would get us sealed and run wide. We were having to put more people than we would have hoped to stop the inside run, and we got leveraged on their counters or their sweeps.

Early key play

After the Bulldogs forced Lyman to punt on the first series of the game, they drove deep into Eagle territory and were knocking on the door as Cash Wassmer dashed for 21 yards and quarterback Kyson Crosby hit Wassmer for 15 and Matthew Newman for a gain of 25. On first and 10 from the Lyman 21, Crosby hit Newman again at about the 10, and as he slashed for extra yards, the ball came loose, and Lyman returned the fumble all the way to the Lovell 9.

Lyman scored on the first play and converted the two-point try to take an early 8-0 lead.

Coach Crosby said it was a decisive change in momentum.

“If that doesn’t happen,” he said, “I think we have a totally different ballgame, if we go up seven to zero right out of the gate, because they’ve had a really hard time this year. They’ve moved the ball, but they’ve had a hard time putting it in (the end zone). This gave them some momentum.

“Matthew had a heck of a game, and he made a move and got some extra yards, but the ball just got away from him. Give Cash a lot of credit. He ran the guy down.”

After a Lovell punt, Lyman drove to the Lovell 25, but an interception by Chase Crosby ended the threat. Lovell then drove 86 yards to score, gaining ground on a 14-yard run by Wassmer and a 35-yard pass to Owen Walker slicing across the middle. Quarterback Crosby then hit Newman for 20 and Walker for a 14-yard touchdown pass. Chase Crosby ran in the two-point conversion, and the game was tied 8-8 with 8:10 left in the second quarter.

Lyman returned the ensuing kickoff to the Eagle 45-yard line and drove for a touchdown on a one-yard run. This time the Eagles kicked PAT, and the visitors led 15-8 with 3:11 left in the first half. An interception ended the next Lovell series, and Lyman went into the locker room with a seven-point lead.

Back and forth

The Bulldogs moved the ball well on the first series of the second half until they stalled at the Lyman 5. Newman then booted a 21-yard field goal, and Lovell trimmed the lead to four points, 15-11.

After the Bulldogs forced the Eagles three and out, with a holding penalty helping matters, the ‘Dogs drove 69 yards to score again. Kyson Crosby hit Walker for gains of 33 and 10, then zipped a shovel pass to Wassmer for 14 yards to the 7. Newman powered for five yards, and Kyson gained another yard on a sneak. The quarterback then punched it in from a yard out on the first play of the fourth quarter, and Lovell took an 18-15 lead with 11:14 to go in the game.

Lyman ate up nearly all of the remaining time with a methodical 19-play drive to go up 22-18 with just 1:24 to play. Coach Crosby started calling timeouts late in the drive, and after the third and final timeout, he told his defense to let the Eagles score or there wouldn’t be enough time for a response. They did so on a two-yard run.

“During my last time out, I said to make sure they score right here, because it would have been 40 more seconds off and we would have had under a minute to try to score to win the game.”

The drive

As it turned out, Coach Crosby needn’t have worried. Newman returned the kickoff to the Lovell 49, and Kyson Crosby hit Walker for five yards to the sideline, stopping the clock with 1:11 to play. Lyman was flagged for interference on the next play, moving the ball to the Lyman 31. Of the two plays, Coach Crosby noted that Walker did a good job moving forward on the play to stop the clock, and Kyson did a great job under a ferocious rush to loft the ball to Walker and gain the interference call.

“He gets whacked as he lets it go. If he doesn’t get that out, then we’re not going to get the interference call,” the coach noted.

Kyson Crosby then tossed a perfect screen pass to Newman, who made a move and turned on the jets down the left sideline to the Lyman 2. Coach Crosby said video showed he actually scored, but the Bulldogs were in business at the Eagle 2 with 55 seconds left. Wassmer scored from there, and after the PAT, Lovell led 25-22 with 51 seconds on the clock.

Lyman returned the ensuing kickoff to the 28, and without a strong throwing offense, the Eagles were at a disadvantage, Crosby knew, and after an incompletion on first down, the junior Joaquin Scheeler intercepted a pass at the 37 and returned the turnover to the Lyman 3 with 32 seconds left. The Bulldogs ran out the clock to chalk up their first win of the season.

Crosby said he’s proud of how his team has overcome obstacles in the early season.

“On our first defensive play of the year, we lose a starting cornerback (Wilson Hendershot), and then we lose two all-state players in our game against Mountain View (Halen Strom and Kalell Gruell), at least for the foreseeable future,” Crosby said, “and we battle illness throughout the season and everything and so, I mean, we could have packed it in and given up. They stuck with it, got the win. And that will give us some confidence going into this upcoming week.”

He did say Mac Morgan, Grant Hill and Jett Hessenthaler have filled in well for their injured teammates. The team got Travis Asay back from injury, as well, and Ryder Lohoff has played well on the defensive line, Crosby added.

Final stats

Kyson Crosby completed 18 of 28 passes for 282 yards, and Newman had 10 receptions for 151 yards, Walker five for 96 yards and Wassmer two for 39. One other completion went for negative four yards.

“Our line’s pass protection has been great, and Kyson and the receivers are developing some chemistry and a rhythm,” Coach Crosby said. “The negative part of that is that our running game hasn’t been as productive, so we’re feeling compelled to throw it a little more than I’d like to.”

Wassmer was the team’s leading rusher, carrying the ball eight times for 49 yards.

Scheeler led the team with 21.5 defensive points, and Wassmer recorded 19.5 points, Chase Crosby 18, Nathan Cornia 14 and Walker 11.

To Thermop next

The Bulldogs will travel south to Thermopolis Friday to meet the Bobcats for a conference game. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Bobcats are 3-0 on the season, beating Tongue River 22-7, Worland 14-10 and Kemmerer 34-7.

“Thermopolis just keeps improving every year,” Crosby said. “They’re disciplined and physical. They’re a little more athletic this year. They like running the auction. So it’s just kind of student body right, student body left. We saw kind of what not to do this last week, and we have some things in place we’ll need to get refined and ready for Friday to defend them. They’re playing a three man front defensively and are a pretty aggressive defensive team, as well.”