Grizzlies battle but can’t get over the top at Greybull

Playing only their second game of the season after a bye week, the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies made the short trip to Greybull Thursday night for a battle against the Buffalos, coming out on the short end of an 18-14 score.

The game was the first of two games pitting the Grizz against the Buffs, and fortunately for the Grizzlies, Thursday’s game was the designated non-conference game, with the conference game scheduled for October 11.

 Rocky was missing some players, including senior guard Hayden Wambeke, and some mistakes plagued the team during the game.

“I think the biggest thing I was trying to tell our guys (during a Friday film session) was that I’m really happy we’re not playing our best game of the season right now, and the good news is that we’ve made a lot of errors, but they’re certainly correctable,” head coach Jessee Wilson said. “What’s disappointing to me is that they’re very similar to the errors we made two weeks ago – turnovers and some penalties.

“I kind of described this game the same way I described the last game. It’s like the guy shooting himself in the foot and saying ‘that hurts’ and then continuing to do it over and over again.”

In spite of the mistakes, the Grizz were in the game from start to finish and created opportunities to win.

“The good thing is that we’re playing with lots of mistakes and still hanging in with decent teams,” Wilson said. “So when we get some of that stuff figured out, we’ll be in good shape. That’s the silver lining.”

Not only did the team’s most experience lineman, Wambeke, miss the game, junior running back Triffen Jolley hurt his shoulder in the second half, and senior quarterback Lafe Files and junior Juan Rodriguez were hobbled during the game, Wilson said. Junior Clayton Thompson was in and out of the game with bumps and bruises, Wilson added.

Part of the issue was how physical Greybull was in the game.

“Honestly, we kind of just got out-physicalled a little bit, something I’m not really accustomed to with our teams,” Wilson said. “I told the guys from the beginning that, with Greybull, that’s what they do. With their wishbone, they’re going to pound it right in your face. It was a stark contrast, honestly, between Lusk and Greybull. Lusk was much less physical; Greybull was very physical.

And that big back, (Lucas) Bolzer, he’s a good running back. It seems like every year they’ve got a kid about six foot, 240 pounds as their running back. What the heck?”

Low scoring half

Greybull took the opening kickoff, and the Rocky defense forced a three-and-out. The Grizz started a drive, but a Greybull defender stepped in front of a Rocky receiver for an interception, what Wilson called a miscommunication.

The Buffs started moving the ball, and after three first downs on the ground, Greybull went to the air and quarterback Caden Hunt was picked off in the end zone by freshman Mason Moss.

Rocky drove 65 yards to the Greybull 15 thanks, in part, to long runs by Jolley and Files, but a fumble ended the series for the Grizz. Given new life, Greybull drove 92 yards to score behind their power running game. Hunt ran in a quarterback sneak, and after Rocky stopped the two-point conversion, the home team led 6-0 with 1:54 left in the first half.

The Grizz moved the ball on the ensuing series, but a pair of penalties called back nice gains, and a deep ball in the final 20 seconds was intercepted.

Second half

Greybull booted the second-half kickoff out of bounds, and the Grizzlies took advantage of the good field position to score. Files gained a key first down with a 15-yard run on third and 11, and after a Greybull hands-to-the-face penalty and some strong running, Jolley went up the gut for a touchdown from six yards out, then added the two-point conversion as Rocky led 8-6 with 5:08 left in the third quarter.

“We were starting to click a little bit up front,” Wilson said, noting the play of linemen Tayt Beall, Rodriguez and Mason Twomey, plus tight end Mathew Crosby. “It’s always weird when you add in a new guy to the rotation, like Mason Twomey. He wasn’t even a lineman until this year, and he just got massive.

“We found some things schematically that I thought were working a little bit better than our traditional power stuff that we run. … That was a great drive.”

Back came the Buffs, driving 74 yards to score on a one-yard sneak by Hunt. A two-point pass failed, but Greybull led 12-8 late in the third quarter.

Wilson was frustrated that the Buffalos were able to convert some third-and-long situations to keep the drive alive.

“We had them right where we wanted them,” he said. “In a game like that, where you get them into that third-and-long position, especially a team that runs the wishbone like that, it could be a game-altering stop. You’re playing a game with so few possessions and allow them to come down and score, that was a backbreaker. It just stole a lot of the momentum.”

The Grizz were stopped on fourth and one at their own 37 on the following drive, but a big hit for a loss by Landon Pruett and a fourth-down tackle by Joaquin Scheeler ended the Greybull threat.

After the Grizz gave the ball up on downs on the ensuing series at their own 43, Scheeler forced a Greybull fumble and Twomey fell on the ball at the 28.

Rocky scored in two plays, 20-yard swing pass to Moss and a 52-yard burst by Scheeler, who bounced the play outside to the right end and took it to the house.

“It was an inside run, but he made a nice cut to get outside and used speed I didn’t even know he had,” Wilson said. “It was pretty cool.”

The Grizz hit the two-point conversion pass but were whistled for offensive pass interference, leaving the score 14-12 with 4:59 left in the game.

Greybull fumbled the kickoff but managed to snag the ball to retain possession.

“That could have been the end of the game right there, and I sure as crap thought we had it,” Wilson said. “We had about four guys right there, but for some reason it squeaked through.”

The inability to snare the loose pigskin would cost the Grizzlies, as the Buffs drove 62 yards to score. Rocky had the Buffs stopped on fourth and four at the Grizzly 45 after key tackles by Pruett, Crosby and Twomey, but big Bolzer gained 10 on a pitch play and punched it in from three yards out three plays later. Rocky thwarted the two-point conversion,
but Greybull led 18-14 with 1:06 to go.

On the final series, Files hit Moss for 13 yards into Greybull territory, but some clock mismanagement by the Grizz in the final seconds led to Rocky Mountain falling short in a comeback effort.

“The good thing about that is it’s learning,” Wilson said. “It’s a learning experience in a non-conference game. I’m never content with losing a game, but these are great learning moments for our team.”

Long trip

Now 0-2 on the season, the Grizzlies will open conference play with a long road trip to meet the Big Piney Punchers Friday at 1 p.m. Big Piney is 1-2 on the season, 1-0 in the conference, after falling to Southeast 30-8, clobbering Wyoming Indian 59-0 and losing to the Evanston JVs 32-7.

The Punchers went 10-1 last season en route to winning the state title, including a 58-0 win over the Grizz.

“They’re well coached,” Wilson said. “Coach (Jeromy) Moffat does a really good job with those guys. They graduated nearly their entire team, but they return a pretty electric running back, Caden Clifford.
He’s got some legitimate speed. We’re just going to have to game plan to keep him inside.”