Bulldogs battle but come up short against second-ranked Mountain View

Game two of a difficult season-opening pair of games proved to be a tough challenge for the Lovell Bulldogs as they fell to the Mountain View Buffaloes on the road Friday afternoon, 21-12, in the 2A West Conference opener for both teams.

Injuries, the elements and a talented Mountain View squad led to defeat for the Bulldogs, who faced the second-ranked Buffaloes one week after meeting top-ranked Big Horn who pounded Wheatland 59-0 Friday one week after edging Lovell 17-15.

A 15- or 20-minute lightning delay set the kickoff time back, head coach Nicc Crosby said, and with the storm came strong winds that made throwing the ball difficult.

“It was very difficult to throw the ball to start out with, so we had a hard time moving the ball, but our defense played well,” Crosby said.

The Bulldogs received the opening kickoff but punted after gaining one first down. Matthew Newman picked off Mountain View start quarterback Justus Platts to thwart the Buffs’ first series, but the Bulldogs were forced to punt again, and Mountain View drove some 70 yards for a touchdown, an eight-yard run by Platts, to take a 6-0 lead.

Crosby pointed out that the Bulldogs lost senior lineman Kalell Gruell to a season-ending broken leg early in the game, and senior Halen Strom is still battling a knee injury suffered a year ago that continues to flare up. He said Grant Hill and Jett Hessenthaler played well in relief.

Mountain View put together another long drive just before halftime, and a one-yard Platts touchdown run and ensuing two-point conversion put the home team up 14-0 at halftime.

Second-half rally

The wind died down as the second half began, Crosby said, and the Bulldogs, after forcing Mountain View three and out, drove 56 yards to score, the offense operating “with a lot more confidence,” the coach noted. Quarterback Kyson Crosby connected with Chase Crosby for a key first down, then found senior wide receiver Owen Walker deep for a 42-yard touchdown pass. Coach Crosby noted that the over-the-shoulder deep to the right had “a beautiful trajectory.”

The PAT missed, but the Bulldog defense stopped Mountain View again, then drove to score. Kyson Crosby hit Walker for 17 yards and Owen Edwards for 10. Chase Crosby ran for 13, and Kyson Crosby found Walker again for 14. Chase Crosby powered for seven yards to the two, and and after a one-yard loss, Kyson found Newman for a three-yard touchdown pass.

The two-point conversion failed, but Lovell was back in the game, trailing 14-12.

Later in the game, with Platts out with a shoulder injury, the Bulldogs decided to be aggressive and went for a fourth-down conversion but were stopped short, Crosby said. The Buffaloes drove 45 yards to score to make the final score 21-12.

In his analysis of the game, Crosby saw improvement but also work to be done.

“I do like how we came out in the second half down a couple of important players and battled back, gave ourselves a good opportunity,” Crosby said. “Our pass protection was solid all game long, and our receivers made some big plays for us. Our quarterback made some good decisions and put the ball in good spots.

“I guess my biggest disappointment is run blocking. We just weren’t able to free Chase and Cash (Wassmer) very much. … We were consistently out of sync with each other in terms of how we were treating the edge defender.”

Crosby liked how the Bulldog defense played Friday.

“Our defense was really solid. I mean, these guys have been putting up 40 or 50 points a game,” he said. “Honestly, it was probably a more impressive performance than in Big Horn, because we were able to control the clock for a good portion of the Big Horn game. And here we got a few quick three and outs and everything. We did a decent job limiting their super 25 player, Justus Platts. We sacked him a few times.”

Crosby completed 14 of 19 passes in the game for 119 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. Walker caught three passes for 81 yards, Chase Crosby five for 18 yards, Newman five for 10 yards and Edwards one for 10 yards. Chase Crosby carried the ball seven times for 39 yards to lead the rushing attack.

Nate Cornia led the defense with 17 defensive points. Wassmer, Brody Muller and Kyle Wilson added 11 points each, Chase Crosby 10.

Home game

The Bulldogs will host the Lyman Eagles for Homecoming Friday at 6 p.m. The Eagles are 0-2 so far, falling to Burns 28-0 in week one, then losing to Cokeville 22-0 in their conference opener.

Crosby will be looking for improvement against the Eagles.

“Our running game has to come alive this weekend,” he said. “We’ve really got to clean up some things and run with good pad level and be really tough to tackle. We need to keep step taking steps in the right direction in our passing game.”

The Eagles have been running a four-man front, Crosby said, adding, “We’ll see if they play us that way, as well.”

Offensively, the Eagles are run heavy, Crosby said.

“I don’t know if they have anybody who’s hurt and they’re waiting to come back, but from what we’ve seen, they’re not quite as explosive as they’ve been, but they are still very physical,” Crosby said. “They really like to grind it out on offense.”