Grizz cruise past Chiefs, host Saratoga Friday

It’s hard to imagine a more dominant performance than the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies displayed on the football field in Cowley Friday evening as they swamped the Wyoming Indian Chiefs 83-0.

The Grizz ran the ball five times in the first half and scored on every run, and they also reached the end zone on a pass play, interception and a scoop-and-score, running in a fumble. Rocky led 55-0 at halftime.

With nearly the entire varsity lineup sitting and head coach Jessee Wilson playing his second and later third team, the Grizz scored four more touchdowns in the second half as freshmen dotted the field.

Statistics were completely lopsided. Rocky Mountain rushed for 191 yards and passed for 147 – 338 total yards – while holding the Chiefs to minus-18 yards of total offense.

Knowing the likely outcome heading into the game, Wilson said his goals were simple: avoid injuries and work to get better.

“That was the number one thing that we wanted to do -- get in and get out and come away healthy and again, just work on ourselves, improve our technique,” Wilson said. “I don’t think we had any penalties or turnovers, which is awesome. … We got to play everybody, and everybody got pretty substantial time, which is great.”

Scoring onslaught

The Grizzlies scored a touchdown every time they had the ball Friday as the Chiefs having virtually no offense and a poor punting game gave Rocky the ball deep inside Wyoming Indian territory to start nearly every drive.

A three-and-out and an eight-yard punt on the opening series of the game left the Grizzlies at the Wyoming Indian 21, and they scored immediately on a 21-yard pass from Mason Moss to Ryan Grant, who came across the middle, snared the aerial and turning on the jets up the right sideline, then diving into the end zone – 7-0.

Playing safety, Moss stepped in front of a pass from Koltyn Returns to War to end the next Wyoming Indian drive, then connected with Cache Thompson for 12 yards, followed by a 24-yard touchdown run by Sam Loyning through the defense like the proverbial knife through butter – 14-0.

Touchdown drive number three covered 40 yards in two plays: a 23-yard pass to Jaxx May and a 17-yard run by Loyning, who was hit at the two or three and powered into the end zone – 21-0.

After another short Wyoming Indian punt, the Grizz scored in one play. Moss briefly bobbled the snap from center but battled through tackles and raced down the sideline for a 27-yard scoring run – 28-0.

Rocky’s fifth touchdown of the first quarter came when senior Masen Twomey intercepted a pass at about the Chief 25 and raced into the end zone for a pick six – 35-0.

Returns to War gained Wyoming Indian’s first first down of the game on the ensuing series on runs of six and five yards, and the Grizzlies actually had 65 yards to reach pay dirt. No matter. Moss hit Cooper Ward for 27 yards and Grant for 25, setting up a 13-yard touchdown run by Ward. The PAT hold didn’t connect, and a pass for two failed – 41-0.

A Grant scoop-and-score for about 14 yards on a Wyoming Indian fumble boosted the Grizzly lead to 48-0, and after William Torres pounced on another Wyoming fumble, Moss and Loyning executed a pitch play perfectly for 36 yards and a touchdown – 55-0. Referees had started the running clock early with agreement by the WIHS coach, and Rocky went into halftime leading by the same score.

All of the Rocky two-way players had their pads off coming out of the locker room, and the Grizz scored four more touchdowns in the second half: a two-yard quarterback keeper by backup May, a sophomore, following runs of 16 and 28 yards by Benson Jolley; a six-yard sweep by freshman Brooks Brost after a nine-yard pass to Evin Clendenen and a 12-yard run by Jolley; a 13-yard run by Brost and a 27-yard pass from freshman Hudson Moore to Jaxson Sponsel.

“Ben (Jolley) is kind of growing up in front of our eyes a little bit this year,” Wilson noted. “It’s been great to see. And I thought Brooks did a nice job. He has really nice vision, the way that he sees the field and makes his cuts and stuff.”

Wilson said 11 different players touched the ball on offense, and 23 players recorded defensive points led by Grant with 15, Gary Gardner 14, Paul Shetler 13 and Hendrick Slabbert with 11.

Loyning had three carries for 69 yards rushing, Jolley four for 64, Moss two for 35, Brost two for 14 and Ward one for 13. Moss completed five of six passes for 108 yards, May two of three for 12 yards and Moore one of three for 27. Grant caught two passes for 46 yards, Sponsel two for 30, Ward one for 27, May one for 23, Thompson one for 12 and Clendenen one for 9.

Huge game Friday

And now the game of the year. The Grizzlies host the Saratoga Panthers for Homecoming Friday at 6 p.m. Saratoga is on a roll similar to Rocky’s coming off a 54-6 win over Greybull Friday night. The Panthers are 5-0 on the season with wins over Sundance 32-12, Wind River 60-8, Wyoming Indian 52-0 and Big Piney 40-0, in addition to Greybull.

“They’re good. They’re a solid team,” Wilson said. “I would say they probably have the most all-around athletes in our division, a lot of really good, athletic kids, some pretty long, lanky kids. Kind of look like us, but purple and gold instead of brown and gold.

“They’re really aggressive, and they’re a really physical team, too. And defensively, they play really downhill and try to screw everything up before you even get started. So they’re really downhill fast.”

Wilson said the Panthers package that aggressive strategy with a 2-4 defense that attempts to bring pressure and disrupt timing, with solid players in Brody Johnson (40) and Max Jones (11) in the defensive backfield.

“We’re pretty athletic, too, collectively as a group. So it’ll be a fun matchup,” Wilson said. “I’m excited to see how we play against them, and I think it’s just going to come down to execution of our schemes. It might be a pretty hard-hitting, entertaining football game. I’d definitely come watch it if you can.”

On offense, Saratoga will run multiple formations, much like the Grizzlies, Wilson said. Griffin Barlett (22) is the top running back, and Jace Westring (5) is an accurate quarterback who will throw to multiple targets.

Of course, the big game comes at the end of Homecoming Week with its myriad distractions.

“Homecoming is so much fun for everybody except for the football coaches,” Wilson joked. “I just tell our kids, like, ‘Guys, we just need two hours every day where we’re just focused on football. Then you can go play buff puff (volleyball) or whatever you do. Just don’t twist your ankle and fall in the bonfire, and we’ll be OK.’ But they do a pretty good job.

“I think as coaches we really just have to set the expectation and really just put out a real sense of urgency this week, and one thing that I do like is that our message has been really consistent throughout the entire year. We haven’t really focused so much on our opponents throughout the course of the year. We just focus on ourselves. And so I tell our kids every week that I want this week to be our best week of practice so on Friday we can play our best game of the year. So I’m hoping seven weeks into this season we play our best game of the year on Friday.”