Cardiac Grizzlies edge Lusk with late touchdown

It certainly wasn’t pretty, but as the old adage goes, a win is a win. The Rocky Mountain Grizzlies made the long journey to Niobrara County Friday where they edged a determined Lusk Tigers squad 20-19 despite four turnovers and several penalties.

“That’s what we said, a win is a win,” head coach Jessee Wilson said. “That’s what I told the boys afterwards, but we did not play very well, not so much in terms of executing our scheme, but more so in just, like, fundamental errors, and so taking care of the ball, obviously, is a huge one where we struggled; you fumble four times. And the penalties. Very seldom do you come out winning that game.

“I’m a little disappointed in that aspect of things, however, I would say I couldn’t be more proud of the way that our kids were able to play through adversity, as evidenced by our defense -- how many times they drive down to our five-yard line and we stop them after a mistake that we made. I don’t think there was ever really any doubt in our kids’ minds. They did play with a lot of confidence throughout the course of the game, which was important, especially coming off of a hard season like last year where we lost almost every game by one possession. I think it was a great confidence builder for our team to actually come out on the right side of things this time.”

The Grizzlies got behind early Friday, then battled back. Lusk took the opening kickoff and drove to the Rocky 18, where a Lusk player attempted to hurdle a Rocky Mountain tackler, which is illegal in high school football. Lineman Masen Twomey hit the player in midair and forced a fumble, recovered by the Grizz.

“While he’s midair, Masen just comes flying out of nowhere and just annihilates him, just absolutely hammers him. The ball pops out, and we recovered it, so I declined the penalty, and we got the ball.”

The Grizzlies mounted a drive, and some eight plays into the drive, a high snap from center resulted in a fumble off quarterback Mason Moss, and Lusk executed a “scoop and score,” racing some 50 yards for a touchdown. The PAT failed, and the home team led 6-0.

“We had a little bit of a high snap, and Moss tried to catch it,” Wilson said. “And this was the craziest thing you’ll ever see. He tries to catch it and slows it down just enough to where the ball literally landed and stopped on his helmet. And so he looks around to try to find the ball, and, of course, it falls off of his helmet, and that Brott kid from Lusk was in the right place at the right time and scooped it and scored it.”

On the first play of the ensuing series, a defensive line stunt resulted in a hard hit on Moss, who fumbled at the Grizzly 9. The Tigers scored, kicked the PAT and led 13-0 on “two gifts right off the get-go,” Wilson noted.

To their credit, the Grizzlies battled right back as Moss hit senior Colten Bitton for a 53-yard touchdown pass. Will Watts kicked the PAT, and Rocky trailed 13-7, still in the first quarter.

“I kind of wanted to get Mason back involved and get his confidence back up, so we dialed up a bomb,” Wilson said. “He threw a fade ball to Colten for a 53-yard touchdown, and he got hammered right as he threw. It was a pretty impressive play.”

Lusk drove to the Rocky 5 but turned the ball over on downs. The Grizz gained a pair of first downs, then punted. Rocky forced a Lusk fumble – “It was a week one game for sure,” Wilson noted – and Juan Rodriguez recovered for the Grizz.

Rocky drove and stalled, and when Coach Wilson went for it on fourth and one, Lusk “guessed right” and hit running back Triffen Jolley in the backfield. Given new life, Lusk put together an eight-play drive to score. A two-point conversion failed, and the home team led 19-7.

A determined Jolley led the Grizzlies back down the field on the ensuing series, running for chunk plays of 15, 17, 11 and 12 yards. Cooper Ward also caught a pass for six or seven yards, Wilson said, and Moss finished the drive with a 25-yard scramble for a touchdown. Rocky trailed 19-14 at halftime.

Second half shutout

A Jolley fumble led to a Lusk drive that reached the Rocky Mountain 5, but the Rocky defense held again, and Lusk turned the ball over on downs. Jolley then got loose for a nice run but lost the ball again. And the Grizzly defense held once again.

“That was good stuff, but I was wishing I had some extra Lisinopril or something to lower my blood pressure,” Wilson said.

The next Grizzly drive stalled thanks, in part, to a false start penalty. 

“We had, like, nine false starts called against us as well,” Wilson said. “Those are just drive killers. We’d have a good drive, and then we’d false start, and sometimes it’d be two times in a drive. It’s hard to overcome that.”

Moss punted to the Lusk 10, and the Tigers drove to midfield but fumbled, with Moss recovering with about six and a half minutes left in the game. Jolley ripped off a 32-yard run on first down. Strong running by Jolley moved the ball to the 4, but another false start penalty moved the ball back to the 9. The Grizz ran a jet sweep, and Coby Wachob scored with the help of downfield blocks by Jolley and Bitton. The PAT missed, but Rocky had a one-point lead, 20-19, with about 4:30 left.

On the following kickoff, a squib kick, Jolley “beat everybody downfield,” Wilson said, raced to the ball and hit the Lusk returner at the 4. The Tigers moved the ball to the 40, but Jolley blew through the line and hit a running back for a five-yard loss in the final minute. Landon Pruett also had a big stop, Wilson said, and with the final seconds ticking away, Moss intercepted a final pass over the middle, sealing the game.

Moss completed six of nine passes Friday for 76 yards. Bitton caught one pass for 53 yards, Wachob two for 12 yards, Watts two for 8 yards and Ward one for 3. Jolley led the ground game with 160 yards rushing on 21 carries. Moss carried 13 times for 48 yards, Ward four times for 43, Watts two for 12 and Wachob one for 9.

Jolley and Moss had monster defensive game, each finishing with 29 defensive points. Jolley had nine unassisted tackles, five assisted tackles, one tackle for a loss and one interception. Moss had seven solo tackles, two assisted stops, two fumble recoveries and a pick. Twomey had 15 defensive points, Rodriguez 13.

“Our defense really saved our butts, saved our bacon, and a lot of that was Justin (Moss),” Wilson said. “He called a good game, and our preparation on defense was as good as it can be for a week one game when you don’t really have a whole lot to go off of. It was really a solid defensive performance. We’ve got some things that we’ve got to clean up, but this was a really good week to have prior to Pine Bluffs, just as far as skill set goes. Lusk played with a running quarterback, and Pine Bluffs has a really electric running quarterback (Carsten Freeburg).”

On the road again

The Grizzlies will hit the road again this week for a huge challenge against the top-ranked Hornets. Rocky and Pine Bluffs will meet in the middle, so to speak, playing Friday at 1 p.m. in Glenrock.

Pine Bluffs beat Shoshoni last week 50-14, and Wilson said Freeburg had 135 yards rushing and three touchdowns on just four carries.

The Rocky Mountain home opener will follow on Friday, Sept. 19, when the Grizzlies host Saratoga at 1 p.m.