Bulldogs clobber Natrona JVs on Senior Night

The Lovell Bulldogs sent their seniors off the field with a win in their final regular season game Thursday as they stopped a talented Casper Natrona junior varsity squad 23-7 on Senior Night at Robertson Stadium.

Using a strong running game and a crisp passing attack, the Bulldogs moved the ball throughout the game, scoring three touchdowns plus a safety on defense.

“We wanted to get our seniors as involved as we could,” head coach Nicc Crosby said. “Every one of them was able to start on either offense, defense or special teams. Everyone had a chance to carry the ball or to catch the ball and just be involved. We were able to do that while staying pretty healthy and getting a win at home. So a pretty good Thursday night for us.”

Playing on a balmy fall night, the Bulldogs took the opening kickoff and drove 60 yards to score as quarterback Kyson Crosby and running back Joaquin Scheeler ran hard and Crosby found Mac Morgan and Nathan Cornia for short passes. With the ball at the NC 3, Coach Crosby called senior Tazz McArthur’s number twice, and on the second try the Lovell center turned running back punched it in from a yard out. Rylan Oaks booted the PAT, and Lovell led 7-0, having taken more than six minutes off of the clock.

After forcing a Natrona punt, the Bulldogs drove 56 yards deep into NC territory but gave the ball up on downs when a fourth-and-four play gained just one yard at the Natrona 7. En route to the red zone, however, Crosby had some strong gains on QB keepers and hit Scheeler and Kannon Owens for gains through the air. A late Lovell holding penalty helped Natrona thwart the drive.

The next Lovell drive ended with an interception, but later in the second quarter the Bulldogs drove 71 yards to score. Crosby found Morgan for a screen pass for 17 yards, Cornia for 13, Morgan for five and Cornia for 21. A roughing-the-passer penalty moved the ball to the Natrona 7, and Crosby found Owens at the goal line, with the big sophomore leaning over the stripe for the touchdown. A lineman run for two failed, but Lovell led 13-0 at halftime.

“We can say JV or whatever, but the windows that Kyson was throwing into were as small as we’ve had all year,” Crosby noted. “He threw into small windows, and we made some contested catches, even one where we were pass interfered with and still caught the ball. All night I thought the line protected pretty well. Joaquin doesn’t get enough credit for his blitz pickup, and he had a lot of key blocks to let Kyson see downfield.

“I thought Kyson threw the ball really well, and again, players made some good catches. That (touchdown pass) was in tight quarters, too, like it was threading the needle. Kannon made a great catch there.”

Second half

There was no scoring in the third quarter, but NC completed a 73-yard touchdown driver early in the fourth, scoring on a six-yard run – 13-7 Lovell.

The Bulldogs didn’t score on the ensuing drive, but they did drive 70 yards to the NC 6 as Crosby continued to throw well, and senior Wilson Hendershot showed his speed on a jet sweep for nine. Lovell reached the NC 6, but a fourth-down pass to Cornia in the end zone failed to connect.

On the very next play, however, Blau applied pressure and Jett Hessenthaler grabbed Natrona quarterback Treyton Baker in the end zone and wouldn’t let him get out, resulting in a safety. Lovell led 15-7.

After taking the free kick, the Bulldogs drove 50 yards in three plays to score once more. Crosby ran a keeper left for 20, then hit Hendershot up the seam for 20. The junior quarterback then hit Cornia in the end zone for the touchdown. Senior lineman Travis Asay ran in the two-point conversion, and Lovell led 23-7 with 52 seconds left, then went on to win by the same score.

The Lovell offense produced a balanced attack, rushing for 171 yards and passing for 180, unofficially, while Natrona passed for 155 yards but rushed for just 64.

“We’ve just been trying to find our identity all year long, and it’s been nice the last few weeks to be able to run and pass the ball,” Crosby said. “We had some guys step up and make some plays in the passing game, and the offensive line’s been creating some space for our running backs and quarterback to run. It’s all been pretty darn good overall.”

Crosby led the ground attack, rushing for 89 yards on 12 carries. Scheeler gained 54 yards on 12 carries, Hendershot 23 yards on three attempts. Porter Blau, McArthur and Robert Capers also carried the ball for Lovell.

Crosby completed 21 of 32 passes for 180 yards. Cornia caught five aerials for 55 yards, Morgan four for 40 yards, Owens four for 26, Scheeler four for 18, Hendershot three for 31 and Blau one for 1 yard.

Defensively, Crosby finished with 11.5 points, Scheeler 10.5 and Cornia 10.

“Any time you only give up one touchdown and can get points with your defense, that’s a good night,” Crosby noted. “There were a couple of drives where it would have been nice to get off the field on third down and get some of those critical stops, but overall that was a good team defensive effort. We got a lot of contributions from several different players, so that was nice to see.”

Playoff bid

With both Pinedale and Lyman falling Friday, the Bulldogs moved into fourth place in the Class 2A West standings, giving them a playoff game this Friday. Lovell will play at undefeated and top-ranked Big Horn with kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Rams (8-0) are one of the top teams in all classifications and have defeated opponents by an average of 57 points per game, so the Bulldogs have their work cut out for them.

“Defensively, we’ve just got to do our best to make it hard for them,” Crosby said. “They have a very explosive offense, and we want to see what we can do to make it hard for them to score quickly. The longer their offense is out on the field on a drive, the less comfortable they get. We want to see if we can force some turnovers, and it would be nice to control the clock a little bit and keep their offense off the field.

“I hope we show up and play hard and give them a game like they haven’t had for a while, make them have to work. It will be good to have that experience, and I’d rather be there than sitting at home on Friday. I give the guys a lot of credit. It was felt there was no way to make the playoff, but we kept going and did enough to get in. I’m really proud of them for sticking with it and getting the job done.”