LSRV takes bite out of Tigers winning ways

Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Rattlers football Head Coach Jack Cobb anticipated a real challenge to his team when he faced the Encampment Tigers team this past Friday.

“We had a good game with them last year,” Cobb said. “They have size, speed and a lot of talent. We knew it was going to be a team effort to win and not because of one or two players.”

In the 1st quarter, both teams could not put any points on the board.

“Encampment is a big powerful team. Three kids are over 220 or 230 and they are athletic kids too,” Cobb said. “Overall we took up the challenge and played as a team.”

Cobb said the Rattlers showed balance when playing.

“A few kids might have stood out over others, but honestly, not really,” Cobb said. “When I went back over all the stats, it was pretty balanced defensive attack and on offense, it was more balanced than we were on week one.”

The first team to score was Encampment.

That would be the only time during the 1st half.

LSRV scored 22 points when the 2nd quarter was over.

“We have a kicker who can give us points, which makes a difference,” Cobb said. “Special teams did well and when everything works, we can do a lot of different things and it showed during the game.”

The Rattlers were the first to score in the 3rd quarter. They did so three times before the Tigers put up any points. The Tigers scored twice before the 3rd quarter ended. The score was 44-18

“Having players that can fill different slots, paid dividends for us,” Cobb said. “It was hot and it took a lot of stamina to do things and I think it paid off when we have a team that is balanced like we are.”

He said the bench is young and it is the juniors and sophomores that are doing well.

“We have some seniors but the juniors and sophomores are becoming more central to our team,” Cobb said. “We have some freshman that are doing good things, but we have a big roster and we have to bring up the younger ones a little slower.”

Cobb said that Encampment being the powerful team that they are, he did not want to put a lot of freshmen in against them.

“I am more cautious in a game against a team like Encampment on who I put in,” Cobb said. “I am sparing about putting in freshmen against a team like the Tigers.”

Cobb said because of the balance his team has, when quarterback Hadley Myers had to leave the field in the 3rd quarter, the team never missed a beat.

“Hadley is more of a running threat for us honestly; he passes the ball if we need to,” Cobb said. “So we ran a tight and a spread offense and both were effective. What made me really happy the most, late in the game, I just wanted to run down the clock and we got the first downs to do that. We had a long sustained drive in the 4th quarter that lasted four to five minutes and in six-man, that is hard to do. That kind of sealed it for us.”

The Tigers did score in the last quarter, but so did the Rattlers.

The final score ended with the LSRV taking the game 66-24.

“For the most part the whole game, we controlled the line of scrimmage on defense and offense,” Cobb said. “That was happy for me.”

Cobb said his next opponent, the Burlington Huskies will have him be ready for a team that will have more of a spread offense than the past two teams the Rattlers faced this season.

“It will be an interesting matchup,” Cobb said. “I told the boys after the win against Encampment to enjoy the feeling of the win, but we cannot take a week off in the West because all the teams are good.”

The next game for the LSRV Rattlers is against the Burlington Huskies in Burlington on September 13.