Rattlers strike at Meeteetse

The Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Rattlers faced off against the Meeteetse Longhorns and came off with a close win of 47-46.

Head Coach Jack Cobb was obviously happy with the outcome.

“It was one of the best games I’ve been a part of in our 13 year history, although it might have taken some years off my life,” Cobb said. “I am so proud of our boys.”

Cobb said, after the game was over, he hadn’t thought the Rattler team played all that well.

“When I looked back at the film, I realized that Meeteetse is good and they make you make mistakes,” Cobb said. “It is not like we made the mistakes on our own. They are a good team, big, physical and can throw the ball. Honestly, it came down to us making the right play here and there that put us on top. Meeteetse had a team that could have gone the distance. There is a reason they were the pre-season ranked number one in six-man.”

Meeteetse went ahead at the start of the game 10-0. The Rattlers adjusted to the throwing game and got ahead only to lose the lead again.

“There was an onside kick that dropped dead and two of our freshman looked at the ball and didn’t touch it, so a player from Meeteetse picked it up and ran 40 yards for a touchdown,” Cobb recollected. “Here we had gotten up by 10 and then bam, they were right back in the game. Then they scored again and we are down, but then we scored.”

Cobb said the Rattlers were down by 6 points when he sent in Kannadis Peroulis, who had been injured two games earlier.

“I wanted to sit Kannadis out for this game because he had gotten banged up, but he is a big tough kid and went in and scored a 55 yard touchdown,” Cobb said. “Then we went for one to make sure we went ahead. I had hoped to rest him but with three minutes left I put him in. He carried the ball five times and got 85 yards.”

Another player who had a great game was Hadley Myers who had been out most of the season. Myers was quarterback along with Zane Matheson, but neither player threw for a touchdown. It was the first time this season that happened. Myers did carry the ball 33 times, rushed for 246 yards and scored 4 touchdowns.

“Those were hard yards Hadley ran up against,” Cobb said. “The boys kept at it and did not give up. Then we got some plays at the right times.”

Cobb said the passing game the Longhorns put forth gave his defense some problems.

“Last time we met, they did mostly rushing, this game it was more passing,” Cobb said. “They are a team that does both well.”

Cobb said the Rattlers turned the ball over four times which is very uncharacteristic of this team.

“You don’t do that against a good team like Meeteetse and win,” Cobb said. “It showed our boys grit at the end to come up with the win.”

Another Rattler who scored a touchdown was Zander Risner. 

“You hate to have any team lose when both play so hard and so competitively,” Cobb said. “But it does feel good to be the team to come up with the win even though as a coach, I really felt for the seniors of Meeteetse. They played a heck of a football game.”

Now that the Rattlers have advanced, they face another Carbon County team for the championship in Laramie with the Encampment Tigers. Two years ago the Rattlers faced another Carbon County team in Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow High School and won.

It was not an easy victory then, and Cobb doesn’t’ expect this game to be any different.

“They are a power dominant physical team that can run through people,” Cobb said. “Those boys want a championship.”

The teams met earlier in the season where the Rattlers took out the Tigers.

“People looked at the score and said we handled them,” Cobb said. “They played tough and in six-man the score can get away from you quick and that is what happened last time. Momentum swung in our direction at the right time, but I never doubted they are a championship caliber team.”

Cobb feels Encampment and Little Snake River are fairly even in talent.

“It is going to be a dogfight. It is going to be a hard hitting, physical game,” Cobb said. “If we played Encampment five times, it would be 3-2 and honestly I can’t say who would have the 3 and who would have the 2. Although pre-season had Meeteetse as the top team, I felt it was Encampment and that we were there alongside them with Meeteetse and Dubois.”

Cobb said the West is a tough conference and by being so tough, it made his team better.

“I told the boys that we should be happy we have come this far. We won the conference undefeated and we can walk away without the championship saying we had a good year,” Cobb conluded. “The good thing about this matchup, no matter who wins, Carbon County is going to produce a state champion.”