Tigers continue winning streak

A battle of the top six-man teams in the North and the South played itself out at Tiger Nation on September 29 as the Encampment Tigers hosted the Kaycee Buckaroos. Both teams sat at No. 1 in their respective conferences as they met on the gridiron.

In the weeks prior, the Tigers had dealt devastating conference losses to the Farson-Eden Pronghorns, 63-6, and the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners, 77-6. They had also secured a win over the Dubois Rams with a 33 point lead, 65-32.

The Buckaroos, similarly, had been dealing losses—both conference and non-conference—leading up to the match with Encampment. They dispatched HEM with a score of 63-13, took down the Meeteetse Longhorns 47-14, defeated the Ten Sleep Pioneers 59-2 and won over the Midwest Oilers 60-12. Their only loss prior to Friday had been to Casper Christian, 61-53.

“This was a back and forth game early on,” said Head Coach Kegan Willford. “It was a good test to see how the team would respond as we traded scores in the first quarter”

Kaycee was the team to draw first blood once the match started, scoring a touchdown within seconds of the clock starting. The Tigers answered back just minutes later with a touchdown of their own a few minutes later. The 1st quarter of the match would be the most difficult for Encampment as they fought to find their groove against the Buckaroos.

It would be the only quarter in which both teams would put double-digits on the board as Kaycee managed three touchdowns against the Tigers along with successful Point After Touchdowns (PAT), the third touchdown and PAT coming in the final seconds of the first 10 minutes.

Encampment managed to keep ahead of the Buckaroos in the opening battle with several touchdowns of their own, throwing a total of 22 points on the board compared to Kaycee’s 21 points. Quade Jordan rushed for 29 yards to score the first touchdown with the second touchdown coming from Kannon Gilbert with a PAT from Gunner Henrie. A conversion following a pass from Henrie to Ryon Miller accounted for another 6 points with another PAT from Henrie.

In the 2nd quarter, the Tigers had appeared to remove what it was they needed to get out of their system to begin playing their game on their home turf. Though there were moments of fumbles and incomplete passes which almost seemed to plague them, Encampment also was able to keep the Buckaroos scoreless the entire quarter while scoring 14 points of their own.

A good four-and-a-half minutes would elapse in that 2nd quarter, however, before the Tigers scored a touchdown, this one from Jordan followed by a PAT from Henrie. Their next touchdown wouldn’t be until there was less than a minute remaining in the first half, this one from Gilbert.

Returning to the gridiron for the second half, the first touchdown would come from the Tigers following a 61 yard rush from Jordan. Kaycee answered back with a touchdown of their own but it would ultimately be the only touchdown the remainder of the game. Encampment scored a total of two touchdowns in the 3rd quarter, both of them from Jordan, placing the score at 48-27 in favor of the Tigers.

Encampment would score another two touchdowns, one from Jordan and one from Gilbert in the final quarter to keep them in the lead as the game came to a close. A one-point conversion following a pass from Henrie to Korbyn Barkhurst helped push the Tigers just a little further ahead.

“Our upperclassmen played well and we had some young freshmen and sophomores step up and contribute as well,” said Willford. “It was a good team effort.”

This game proved to be different than some of the previous matches seen by Tiger fans as the coaching staff tried some new plays. To date this season, many of the plays appeared to be a matter of handing the ball to Jordan, who has averaged 126 rushing yards per game and rushed for 275 yards in this game, and letting him bowl over the defense.

This time, the ball was also handled by Kannon Gilbert (20) who weaved his way through the defense and rushed for 121 yards. The passing leader was Henrie, who passed for 74 yards and has been averaging 136 yards per game this season.

Despite a nail-biting start to the match, Encampment pulled out a 61-27 win over the Buckaroos. While the Tigers ended their weekend continuing a five game winning streak, they shattered Kaycee’s putting the Buckaroos at 4-2 for the season.

The Encampment Tigers are still sitting at No. 1 in the 1A South Conference at 5-0 for the season and 3-0 for conference play. They sit just above the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Rattlers, who are also 5-0 for the season and 3-0 for conference play.

The Rattlers, who are the defending 1A Six-Man Champions, host the Encampment Tigers at 2 p.m. on October 7.