Broncs Blast Plainsmen in Season Opener

For a second straight year, the Laramie Plainsmen were no match for the second-ranked Sheridan Broncs. Laramie lost their opener last Friday night, 49-to-7.

Sheridan (1-0) scored on the third play of the game and rolled to their 11th straight victory against the Plainsmen.

Laramie head coach Chuck Syverson said we talked all week about their speed.

“You can’t duplicate speed in practice… our secondary struggled with that.”

Blake Godwin threw for six touchdown passes and 278 yards. He connected with Dontae Crow, Zach Campbell and Coy Steel for two scores apiece. Steel added a 36 yard interception return for a touchdown.

Laramie (0-1) finally got on the board midway through the fourth quarter, when junior quarterback Taylor Dodd scored on a 19-yard touchdown run.

The Broncs faced third down and 34 yards to go on the game’s opening drive. Godwin aired one out down the right sideline, and Crow ran under it and sprinted away for an 83-yard score.

After a pair of t-d passes to Campbell, it was 21-0 Sheridan at the end of the first quarter. Godwin then added two strikes to Steel. On the next Laramie possession, Steel jumped a Dodd pass for a pick six. That made it 42-0 at half.

The Plainsmen went for it on fourth and two at their own 28, and a broken play led to a turnover on downs. Seven plays later, Sheridan scored and the running clock rule came into play.

The Broncs finished with 388 yards of offense. They held Laramie to 186 yards. Dodd accounted for 134 of those yards. He ran for 88 and threw for 46.

Syverson added he thought they played better the second half; a lot more aggressive.

“With our motto being “No Fear, No Limits,” this year, I still think we need to get a little bit more into that. I thought the first half came out pretty well, but as soon as they got a couple of touchdowns, I saw a little of that attitude of ‘their one of the big four, I don’t know if this is going to happen.’ As opposed to, just buckling up your chin straps and getting after it a little bit more.”

Laramie goes on the road for the first time next Friday against the Rock Springs Tigers. Kick-off is at 7 p.m.