Bulldogs take it on the chin against Pinedale

It was a tough outing for the Lovell football team as the Bulldogs made the long trip to Pinedale Friday, falling to a strong Wrangler team 42-14.

Devastating mistakes and big plays by the home team turned what otherwise would have been a closer game into a 28-point loss.

“Pinedale has been trending upward over the last few years,” Lovell head coach Nicc Crosby said. “It was a tough win for us last year, and unfortunately, we had to head there again this year. They’re a very physical team, and we were not able to match their physicality. We use the example that you can be the hammer or the nail on the football field, and they were the hammer and we were the nail far more than the other way around.”

The Bulldogs got off to a slow start when, after going three and out, their fourth-down punt was blocked, setting up a short field for the Wranglers, who scored on a sweep from five yards out on fourth down to take a 7-0 lead.

“We still had a chance to hold them with the fourth-down play. We had people in position but just didn’t make the play,” Crosby said. “After that first drive, we were able to move the ball offensively but weren’t able to punch it in enough times. The line blocked well, and Kyson (Crosby, quarterback) made good decisions and ran hard.

“We were able to get a lot more guys involved in the offensive game plan and had several people come through and make plays.”

After the initial series and Pinedale score, the Bulldogs drove to the Wrangler 36, but a sack and a dropped pass led to the Bulldogs giving the ball up on downs. Pinedale then drove 61 yards to take a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Down by just two scores, the Bulldogs fumbled the kickoff, and though they had the ball on the Lovell 23, it took the Wranglers seven plays to score on a 24-yard touchdown pass.

“We knew it was coming and talked about it,” Crosby said of the touchdown pass, “but we managed to get out of position.”

The Bulldogs had no quit in them, however, and drove 65 yards to score as Crosby hit Mac Morgan for a 20-yard completion on third and 11, then fired a touchdown pass to the sophomore on a slant from 21 yards out. Lovell trailed 21-7 at halftime.

“If you go back and look at the coulda-woulda-shouldas and the bad plays and bad luck, we had a legitimate chance to go into the locker room at halftime down 14-7 or even be tied 7-7 instead of down 21-7,” Crosby mused. “We talked at halftime about being more physical and more sure in our tackling. Schematically, what they do puts stress on defenses, no doubt. I felt guys were in position to make plays, but with missed tackles or not filling the right gaps, we just didn’t give ourselves a chance to get back into the game in the second half.”

Second half

The Bulldogs needed a stop to begin the second half, but unfortunately Pinedale fullback Logan Emery blasted through the Lovell defense on the first play from the line of scrimmage and took it 80 yards to the house to put Pinedale up 28-7 before many fans had settled back into their seats after halftime.

“He has one of those (runs) every game,” Crosby said. “Once he gets a full head of steam, he’s really hard to bring down in the open field.”

Following a Lovell punt, the home team pretty much put the game on ice, driving 58 yards to score on a 21-yard toss play to lead 35-7. Lovell drove to the Pinedale 18 before stalling, and the Wranglers drove 82 yards to score on a 28-yard run to lead 42-7 early in the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs then drove 64 yards to score as Crosby hit Morgan for 17 and Nate Cornia for 13 on a well-executed screen pass. Senior Porter Blau then punched it in from six yards out for Lovell’s second and final touchdown of the game, making the final score 42-14.

Crosby said Pinedale did not send statistics from the game, but junior Grant Hill led the team with seven defensive points.

Thermopolis for Homecoming

The Thermopolis Bobcats come to town for Homecoming Friday, and kickoff has been moved from the originally scheduled 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. so that the cross country team can return from a meet in Worland Friday afternoon.

The Bobcats are 2-1 on the season, clobbering Tongue River 47-13 and Kemmerer 22-6 before falling to Cokeville 14-13 after a two-point play on the final touchdown failed.

“They’re good,” Crosby said. “We’re going to have to decide if we’re going to play physical football and tackle or get out-worked every Friday night. Offensively, we’ve got to finish drives and score more points. The other team can’t score if we possess the ball, so that’s a defensive strategy, too.

“It’ll be like playing Pinedale all over again. They’re an option team, a physical team. I feel Thermop’s quarterback (Cannon Boren) is more physical and a better runner than Pinedale’s, but the Pinedale fullback is tough to beat. We have a good idea of what works and what doesn’t work and a better idea of how to stop the option.”