Bulldogs secure home playoff game with big win over Cokeville
Last season, a loss to Cokeville pushed the Lovell Bulldogs into third place in the Class 2A West standings, forcing them to travel to Big Horn for the first round of the playoffs. This year, the Bulldogs were not about to let that happen again, and they pounded the Cokeville Panthers at home Friday night, 47-20.
Coach Nicc Crosby said the loss last season and having to travel certainly played a roll in this year’s strong performance.
“We didn’t want to make a long trip (to Newcastle) and wanted to have home field advantage in the first round, and maybe if something crazy happens host a second game, too,” Crosby said. “And as much as it was losing to them last year, it was the point differential in the (33-18) loss with the three-way tie. We ended up on the bad end of that.”
Not to worry. The Bulldogs took care of business in a big way on Senior Night, forcing six turnovers and scoring seven touchdowns – one on defense – in a rare show of dominance over the always tough Panthers.
“On the defensive side of the ball we played one heck of a game,” Crosby said. “You’re going to win a lot of games if you force six turnovers. The guys played very physically and fulfilled their individual assignments very well. We were very opportunistic. They put the ball on the ground twice, and we recovered both fumbles. And we put ourselves in good position for four interceptions, including a pick six.”
Senior Davin Crosby had three of the interceptions, including the return for a touchdown, and Matthew Newman had the fourth. Braxton Felkins and Halen Strom recovered the fumbles.
“I was proud of our players, and Coach (AJ) Montanez really schemed things up well,” Crosby said. “You don’t see Cokeville (typically) turn the ball over like they did, but when we had the opportunities, we took advantage of it and turned most of them into points.”
Offensively, the Bulldogs passed for 186 yards and rushed for 174 yards to finish with a well-balanced 360 yards of total offense against a traditionally tough defense.
“We were looking for different ways we could move the football,” Crosby said. “We’ve played those guys enough to know they make good adjustments. We wanted to have things to go to if they switched things up on us with their pass coverage. With how they’ve played us and others in the past, we knew they’d make adjustments to try to limit us in the passing game.”
The solution for the Bulldogs was running more power football. Crosby installed a new “heavy” formation with fullback Felkins moving to halfback, lineman Kalell Gruell at fullback and 310-pound defensive lineman Halen Strom to the offensive line.
“With Halen coming back and Braxton running so effectively, we wanted to figure out how to leverage that to our benefit,” Crosby said. “We put in a couple of heavier sets.”
And when Cokeville tried to stop the running game, the Bulldogs went to the air.
“They had to commit players to the box, and they couldn’t double-team our receivers. We took full advantage of that,” Crosby said.
The Bulldogs also used their speed to get the outside using slotback Newman, who has the proverbial “wheels.”
“The jet sweep stuff – we’ve had success against them in years past,” Crosby noted. “We wanted to make sure we had that installed, and I was very pleased with how we executed it.”
Big, early lead
It took the Bulldogs a while to start clicking early in the game, but once they did it was Katy bar the door. After an early three-and-out, the Bulldogs drove 60 yards to score after stopping Cokeville on fourth and five. A 12-yard pass from Crosby to Owen Walker, a seven-yard run by Felkins and a 24-yard pass to Walker set up an 11-yard blast around left end by Felkins for the first touchdown. Lovell led 7-0.
Cokeville fumbled on the second play of the ensuing series, with Felkins recovering, and the Bulldogs took advantage of the 22-yard short field to score on a one-yard run by Felkins – 14-0 Lovell.
Five plays into the next Cokeville possession, the Lovell defense struck again as Davin Crosby picked off a pass from Cokeville quarterback Kashton Walker and returned the interception 43 yards for a touchdown. Lovell led 21-0 after the first quarter.
An interception of a Crosby pass on a deflected ball gave Cokeville some momentum, and the Panthers drove 47 yards to score on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Walker to a diving Ammon Hatch. A two-point conversion run by Kayson Walker made the score 21-8, Cokeville still in the game.
Not to be outdone, the Bulldogs drove 71 yards on the ensuing possession to score as runs of 26 and 18 yards by Newman, eight yards by Chase Crosby and nine yards by Davin Crosby set up a four-yard burst around left end by Newman for the score. The PAT was wide, but Lovell led 27-8.
One of the great plays of the game occurred on the next Cokeville series when Cokeville bobbled the snap from center and dropped the ball. Strom picked up the football and rumbled 25 yards to the Panther 22. Five plays later, Davin hit Walker for a seven-yard touchdown pass. A bad snap on the PAT foiled the extra point, but Lovell led 33-8, then intercepted the Panthers on the final play of the first half.
Pulling away
The Lovell defense forced Cokeville three and out on the first series of the second half, and the Bulldogs drove 60 yards in two plays. After a seven-yard run by Felkins, Davin Crosby found Walker down the left sideline. After the 6-6 receiver went high to snag the aerial, he “turned and burned” for a 53-yard scoring pass – 40-8 Lovell.
An interception and 31-yard return by Newman on the ensuing Cokeville possession set up Lovell’s sixth offensive touchdown of the game, a 48-yard strike to a blazing Newman that put Lovell up 47-8.
Cokeville made the final score look a bit more respectable with two late touchdowns, completing a 67-yard drive late in the third quarter with a two-yard run by Kayson Walker (run failed) and adding a 30-yard touchdown pass to Walker in the fourth (run failed), making the final score 47-20.
Plenty of offense
Crosby hit 10 of 17 passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns Friday, and Walker caught five passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns, Newman three for 73 yards and a score and Felkins one for 11.
Felkins rushed for 78 yards on 18 carries, Newman 57 yards on five carries.
Cokeville rushed for 117 yards as Kayson Walker carried 22 times for 107 yards and passed for 114 yards as Kashton Walker completed seven of 16 passes but had four interceptions.
Home playoff game
Unlike last year, the Bulldogs will enjoy some home cooking in the playoffs as they host the third seed from the East, the Burns Broncs, Friday at 6 p.m.
Burns played to a 5-2 record in the 2A East, and the Broncs were 5-4 overall, counting a week zero loss to Rawlins. In common opponents, the Broncs fell to Lyman 48-6, whereas the Bulldogs stopped the Eagles 36-22, and Burns fell to Big Horn 49-7, while Lovell fell to the Rams 28-24.
“Offensively, they’re going to spread you out a little bit,” Crosby said. “They’ve had more success throwing the ball than running it. They have a tall quarterback (Mason Medley, #9) who is an accurate passer and a good scrambler, and he has some good weapons to throw to.”
Mason Terry (#3) leads the team in pass receiving, and Zach Austin (#13) is the top running back.