Grizzlies look to Greybull after shredding Wyoming Indian

How does a coach analyze a 77-0 blowout? That was the dilemma facing Rocky Mountain head football coach Jessee Wilson Monday when attempting to comment on the Grizzlies’ lopsided win at Wyoming Indian in Ethete Thursday night.

The Grizz scored 11 touchdowns, many of them by junior varsity players and three on defense. Rocky led 42-0 after the first quarter, and Wilson had already been substituting JV players midway through the quarter. The Grizz added three more TDs in the second quarter to lead 63-0 at halftime, then added single touchdowns with the running clock in each the third and fourth quarters as Wilson subbed out JV players for the youngest players on the roster.

“(Senior) Triffen Jolley touched the ball four times and scored three touchdowns. Our first play from (the line of) scrimmage was a 37-yard touchdown run (by Jolley),” Wilson said. “I think the biggest thing that we emphasized last week in practice was trying to correct those mistakes that we made the week prior, holding onto the ball and taking care of some of those penalties. Just limiting those penalties was the biggest thing. And so we were focused more so on ourselves and our execution.”

It worked. The Grizz were whistled for just one penalty, and they didn’t turn the ball over. On the other hand, the Rocky defense shredded the Chiefs, intercepting five passes and returning three for scores.

Besides his 37-yard run, Jolley had runs of 35 and 12 for touchdowns, as he carried the ball three times for 84 yards and caught one pass for 21 yards. Quarterback/safety Mason Moss scored in three ways, throwing a 50-yard touchdown pass to Landon Pruett, reaching pay dirt on a 25-yard run and returning an interception for a score. Moss completed three of five passes for 85 yards and rushed for 27 yards on two attempts.

Freshman Jaxx May completed four of five passes for 53 yards and hit Cooper Winland for a 27-yard touchdown pass and Lukas Miller for a 19-yard scoring play. Sophomore running back Cooper Ward had two carries for 42 yards and a touchdown, Sam Loyning two carries for 27 yards, Benson Jolley two for 13, May two for 5 and Gary Gardner one for 10.

Jaxson Miller caught one pass for 14 yards, Jaxson Sponsel one for 10.

Wilson said the game not only allowed young players to see significant playing time in a varsity game, but it also allowed him to rest varsity players ahead of what promises to be a physical battle at Greybull this week.

According to final defensive statistics, some 25 players earned at least one defensive point Thursday, showing the extent of Rocky’s mass substitutions. May led the way with 14 points, and Pruett recorded 11 points, Triffen Jolley 10 and Ryan Grant eight.

Greybull Friday

Now 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the 1A 9-man Northwest, the Grizz will travel to Greybull Friday for a critical game against the 5-0 Buffs. The Grizz technically “won” the week zero scrimmage in Greybull on August 30, but the Buffs have cranked it up during the regular season, beating Wright 26-18, Lingle 28-26, Lusk 50-24, Shoshoni 31-12 and Big Piney 20-14.

The Buffs lead the state in rushing with their wishbone offense, and though they graduated power backs Wyatt Didrickson and Lucas Bolzer, they return quarterback Caden Hunt (#12) and powerful fullback Caiden Sorenson (#30) and have explosive backs in Bennett Sanford (#22) and Jesse Brown (#20).

“Caden (Hunt) is a really experienced option quarterback,” Wilson said. “He does a good job of holding the ball in there, trying to cloud up your reads, make you make a mistake. He showed last week that he can throw the ball a little bit, too. He’s a good, experienced player. Sorenson is a big, tough kid.

“They’re a physical team. That’s kind of what they hang their hat on. I wouldn’t say that they’re as physical as they were last year. They graduated the Didrickson kid and the Bolzer kid, and they’re 220 pounds apiece, so I don’t think they’re quite as physical as they have been in the years past, but, I mean, they’re a wishbone offense, right? They’re gonna try to run it down your throat if they can.”

On defense the Buffalos will mostly play a 3-3 base defense but will sometimes go with a 4-2, and they play mostly man-to-man in pass coverage, Wilson said.

In beating Big Piney, the Buffs may have done the Grizzlies a favor if the Grizz can prevail Friday night, giving Rocky a shot at first place, though Wilson added, “I feel weird talking about that, because there’s so many ‘what ifs.’ … It should be a classic.”

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Friday in Greybull.