Down early, Bulldogs get rolling to stop Lyman 36-22

It took about a quarter for the Lovell Bulldogs to shake off the cobwebs of a long bus ride Friday, but shake them they did as they overcame an early two-touchdown deficit to beat the Lyman Eagles on the road, 36-22, for their first win of 2024.

Using a relentless ground game with surprising passes, the Lyman Eagles built a 14-0 lead in the second quarter, scoring a pair of long drives. But after that, the Bulldogs stiffened on defense, and their big play offense got rolling, outscoring the home team 36-8 the rest of the game.

The Bulldogs made the six-plus-hour drive to Uinta County on Friday morning for the 3 p.m. kickoff, and as they struggled to gain their footing, Lyman’s ground-pounding wing T offense marched 80 yards on the opening possession to keep the chains moving until surprising the Lovell secondary with a 24-yard touchdown pass. A two-point conversion run failed, and Lyman led 6-0 early.

Lovell head coach Nicc Crosby said a long bus ride may have played a role in the slow start, but a major factor was the Bulldogs not being mentally prepared to play the game.

“Unfortuately, we’re setting a trend with slow starts,” he said. “We’ve got to improve our mentality and come out and play inspired football. We need to come out with more urgency from the first kickoff. We’re always having to dig ourselves out of holes.”

Lovell went three and out and punted the ball to the 3-yard line, but Lyman was undeterred, marching 97 yards to pay dirt, again catching the Bulldogs off guard on a 56-yard touchdown pass down the sideline. The try for two was good, and Lyman led 14-0 with 8:49 left in the second quarter.

Asked if it was difficult to prepare for Lyman’s wing T offense, Crosby noted, “Our scouts (in practice) did a decent job of giving us a good look at what Lyman would run, but we played tentative and hesitant on defense and lost our focus at critical moments in the defensive secondary.”

And then the Bulldogs
woke up.

As if taking a slapping on a dose of the old Hai Karate aftershave lotion, the Bulldogs fired up and took the game to the Eagles. Lovell drove 76 yards in three plays – all through the air. Senior quarterback Davin Crosby hit Owen Walker for gains of 15 and 12 yards, then went deep to a streaking Matthew Newman for a 49-yard touchdown pass. A Lyman penalty on the PAT kick allowed the Bulldogs to run a two-point conversion, and Lovell pulled within a touchdown trailing 14-8.

“They decided to triple-team Owen, and we have enough other skill guys to get behind teams,” Crosby said.

Lyman went three and out, and a poor punt left the Bulldogs in business at the Eagle 37. This time the Bulldogs mixed in the running game using Braxton Felkins and Chase Crosby. Davin Crosby’s one-yard quarterback sneak tied the score, and Mikkel Klepp’s PAT kick gave Lovell a 15-14 the Bulldogs carried into halftime.

Second half dominance

Speedy senior Parker Steenbakkers returned the second-half kick for 42 yards into Lyman territory at the 48, and the Bulldogs scored in three plays. Davin Crosby appeared to throw a 48-yard touchdown pass to Walker, but he was ruled out of bounds at the 20. No matter. Crosby found Newman to the right side, and he dove for the pylon to score Lovell’s third touchdown. The PAT put Lovell up 22-14.

“That (kickoff return) was a really big play for us,” Crosby said. “We talk about how special teams can gain or lose momentum for you. The blocking set up really well, and Parker hit the seam.”

As the Bulldogs defense started shutting down the Lyman office, Lovell had the football for most of the second half.

“Coach (AJ) Montanez tried some different things to get things to work,” Crosby noted. “In the first couple of drives we were not able to stop the run. Then we used some run blitzes to plug up holes and not wait for the blockers to get to us – meet them closer to the line of scrimmage.”

The Lovell defense forced another three-and-out for Lyman, and the Bulldogs drove 61 yards to score again. Felkins got the drive started with an eight-yard run, and Davin Crosby connected with Walker for a 30-yard gain. After a seven-yard run by Felkins, Crosby kept the ball off right tackle for an 18-yard touchdown run, getting key blocks from Felkins and right tackle Kalell Gruell. Lovell led 29-14.

Lyman moved the ball into Lovell territory on the ensuing series before stalling, and the Bulldogs drove 57 yards to put the game out of reach early in the fourth quarter. Davin Crosby gained 34 yards to the Lyman 28 on a keeper, getting two big blocks from Felkins downfield, setting up a four-yard touchdown pass from Crosby to Crosby – Davin to Chase. Lovell led 36-14 with the PAT, having scored 36 consecutive points.

“Braxton is really good at positioning himself and helping out his teammates with his blocking and hard work,” Crosby said of the Lovell fullback.

Lyman scored a final touchdown in the final minute of the contest to make the final score 36-22.

“This was a game we had to have to try to keep pace,” Crosby said. “You want to go to the playoffs, but you also want a decent seed. Starting 0-2 (in the conference) would really have put us behind the 8 ball. I’m really glad to get the win.

“I’m proud we battled back. Now we have to put four quarters together and play with urgency and intensity from the opening kickoff to the last whistle. We can be a really dangerous team if we can figure out how to play four solid quarters.”

Homecoming game

Now 1-2 overall, 1-1 in the 2A West, the Bulldogs will host Thermopolis for homecoming Friday night. The Bobcats are 2-1 so far in 2024, crushing Tongue River 34-0, falling to Worland 21-6 and edging Kemmerer 14-10.

“Thermopolis is a pretty darn good football team,” Crosby said. “They’re very aggressive and physical. They run some triple option and wing T at you on offense, and they have three backs who average 40 yards per game. It’s pretty hard to focus on one guy. We’ve got to play good assignment football.”

Top Thermop weapons are brothers Armani (quarterback) and Del Dukes (receiver), and top backs are Ryan Arends, Zane Stam and Bridger Peil. Cannon Boren also plays quarterback for the Bobcats.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.