56-21 rout: Grizzlies crush Upton to earn home semifinal against Sundance

Win and advance – and stay healthy. That was the goal of the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies as they hosted the Upton Bobcats in the first round of the Class 1A 9-man playoffs Friday night.

The Grizz met that goal in a big way, crushing Upton 56-21 and leading 56-7 until head coach Jessee Wilson cleared the bench in the fourth quarter after subbing heavily early in the third.

Having defeated Upton at home 47-0 four weeks earlier, the Grizzlies were certainly confident going into the game and kept things pretty basic, Coach Wilson said.

“We always have some stuff in our back pocket if we need it,” he said, “but this week, I think for sure we really just ran a lot of base offense and a lot of base defense and tried to get our kids better. Those live reps are so important, and Upton is a .500 team this year, so, if anything, it’s great practice.

“Offensively, we’re bigger up front. We’re going to be able to run the ball fine (we thought), and we did. I wanted to throw actually a little bit more than we did, but really by the end of the first quarter, I was like, ‘all right, let’s just get this thing over with.’ I wasn’t real interested in extending the game if we didn’t have to.”

Upton took the opening kickoff and came out throwing as senior quarterback Keanu Duarte found receivers for gains of 14, eight, three and nine yards before Rocky Mountain senior Jaxson Miller snared an interception to end the drive.

“They were just kind of dinking and dumping it, being content with a five- or six-yard gain,” Wilson said. “Obviously against Greybull, we struggled to cover the flats, so they did a good job of preparing that way, trying to see if we had fixed some of those issues that we had, and so, yeah, they were attacking that area. I was a little frustrated for a minute; initially I’m like, ‘What the heck’s going on?’ But we got her rectified there in pretty short order.

“They came out with a couple of different concepts that we hadn’t really seen, and that first drive was pretty good. I think they got two first downs before we had an interception, and then after that we were able to take care of things from there.”

Miller returned the interception to the Upton 33, and the Grizz scored in seven plays starting with a 10-yard run by senior running back Sam Loyning, followed by a nine-yard Loyning run. Following a seven-yard keeper by quarterback Mason Moss to the 3, Loyning powered for two yards, then scored on a one-yard run. Moss booted the PAT, and Rocky led 7-0.

Upton gained one first down on the ensuing series, then punted top the Rocky 30. After an incomplete pass on first down, Loyning broke around right end on a buck sweep and burst down the sideline for a 70-yard touchdown run. And just like that, Rocky led 14-0.

There was plenty more to come. Upton went three and out, and an 18-yard punt return by Jaxx May set the Grizz up at the Bobcat 39. Moss hit Ryan Grant for 21, then went to the other side to a wide-open May on a hitch pattern. May dashed 18 yards for the score, and Rocky led 21-0, still in the first quarter.

“That was a great return by Jaxx,” Wilson said. “And good blocking. I would give our blockers some credit there. They set up that wall really nicely.”

Upton turned the ball over on downs at the end of the next series, and Rocky Mountain quickly drove 54 yards to score, starting with an 18-yard keeper by Moss. Then on fourth and one from the Upton 27, Cooper Ward, returning to the lineup after missing the Greybull game, broke around right end for a 22-yard gain to the Upton 5. After a Grizzly loss on second down due to a slip, Moss rolled left, dodged tacklers and found May in the end zone for a six-yard touchdown pass. Rocky led 28-0.

Three minutes later, the Grizz had the ball again and covered 43 yards in four plays: A 20-yard jet sweep by May, a 21-yard run up the middle by Loyning, a one-yard run by Paul Shetler and a one-yard touchdown keeper around right end by Moss – 35-0.

With freshman Kaegan Hiatt now operating at quarterback, Upton scored on a 50-yard pass from Hiatt to Charles Wozney, who got outside and down the right sideline. Upton had a lifeline trailing 35-7.

The Grizz responded a 65-yard run that culminated with a 22-yard touchdown sweep by Ward, and the home team had a 42-7 halftime lead.

Second half

The second half started with a big play when sophomore Jaxson Sponsel returned the kickoff 79 yards for a touchdown. Rocky had a 49-7 lead. Then after Moss ripped the football out of Duarte’s hands on a quarterback keeper, Rocky was in business at the Upton 32. Ward skirted right end for 29 yards, and Moss scored from two yards out to complete the drive – 56-7 Rocky Mountain a minute and a half into the third quarter.

“That was a great play by him (Moss on the forced fumble) to, one, secure the tackle but, two, to rip that thing out,” Wilson said. “That was awesome, really awesome.”

With the mercy rule running clock now ticking, Wilson put in the second-team offense, then the second-team defense. Upton scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns against the Rocky junior varsity to make the final score 59-21.

 The Grizzlies kept the ball on the ground for the most part Friday and finished with 315 yards rushing, unofficially. Loyning gained 138 yards on 10 carries, Ward 99 yards on seven carries, Benson Jolley 32 yards on two carries, Moss 30 yards on five attempts and May 14 yards on five carries.

“That’s our identity, right?” Wilson said. “The strength of our team is our run game and really our run defense. You watch how these teams are trying to play us now. They’re not trying to run in the box. That’s because we’re tough. We’re tough up front, and so that’s really kind of what we hang our hat on. We’re going to run the ball, and we’re going to stop the run. And generally that’s a winning recipe in high school football. I’m always happy if we run for 300 yards. That’s great. I’m never upset about that.”

Moss completed seven of 12 passes for 78 yards, May one of three for 3 yards. May caught three passes for 46 yards, Ward two for 5 yards, Grant one for 21, Sponsel one for 6 and Cooper Winland one for 3.

Upton rushed for 42 yards and passed for 246. Moss led the Grizzlies with 22 defensive points, and Lukas Miller added 11 points, Jolley 9, Sponsel and Miller 7 apiece.

Sundance in the semis

The Grizz will host the Sundance Bulldogs in the semifinal round Friday afternoon. Sundance is 6-3 on the season and clobbered the Greybull Buffaloes 61-29 Friday at home after falling to the Buffs 49-41 two weeks earlier. Sundance has also lost to Saratoga 32-12 and Pine Bluffs 27-21 this season, beating Lusk, Lingle, Wright, Southeast and Upton. Sundance beat Upton 49-6 week before last.

Wilson called Sundance “a dynamic team” led by quarterback Kade Mills (#14) and running back Lyman Halverson (#3).

“He (Mills) is a really phenomenal athlete, a really good player, and he can make plays with his arm, and he can make plays with his legs,” Wilson said. “And so it will be really important for us to try to keep him contained to some degree. He’s a great runner with the football, same thing with number 3, the Halverson kid. A really dynamic athlete, as well.

“They move him (Halverson) all over the place. He’s in the backfield as a running back. Sometimes they’ll put him out in the slot. They’ll try to put him out wide and isolate him one on one with another player.”

The Bulldogs will run a 2-4 defense, Wilson said.

“They’re gonna send a lot of pressure with their interior linebackers, number 56 (Landon Gaylord) and number zero (Luke Halverson), both pretty good players,” Wilson said. “And number 58 (Jake Krell) is also a pretty solid player. He’s a D lineman, kind of a stand-up defensive end. But they’re going to put on a lot of pressure and try to blow stuff up before you can get it to develop.”

Kickoff Friday is scheduled for 4 p.m., Wilson said, in hopes of warmer temperatures than a normal 6 p.m. kickoff.

If the Grizzlies win, they will meet the winner of the Pine Bluffs-Saratoga game in the state championship game Saturday, Nov. 14, at 1 p.m. in Laramie.