Broncs Pull Away From Plainsmen in Second Half

It was a tale of two halves, and the second half was one the Laramie Plainsmen would rather forget in a 42-3 loss at Sheridan last Friday night.

The Broncs had a 7-3 lead at halftime and broke the game wide open in the third quarter. Sheridan’s Parker Christensen returned the second half kick-off 94 yards for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead 15 seconds into the frame.

Plainsmen head coach Clint Reed said they were scrapping in that first half, but it got away from them.

"The second half is what we didn't want. We had the exact same conversation about Natrona at halftime, about coming out and being solid. We tried to put the ball in the hash, tried to pin 'em in the hash, knew the reverse was coming. I love the kids' effort, but you know they just started chasing the ball, and the reverse came, and there went Christensen, 25, right down the seam on our sideline."

Sheridan (6-2) would capitalize on a short field and drive 32-yards for another score. Broncs’ quarterback Jacob Boint capped it with a 3-yard touchdown run for a 21-3 lead.

Laramie began a march, but QB Jason Upton was intercepted for the second time in the game. Sheridan’s Ryan Sessions returned it to the Plainsmen 37-yard line. Six plays later Christensen had his third TD of the game on a nine-yard run and a 28-3 lead.

Christensen added another 3-yard TD run early in the fourth that made it 35-3. Sheridan capped the scoring with their back-ups in midway through fourth on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Lowden Askins to Izak Aksamit.

Reed added in the second half, "I think they came out and played Bronc football. Just steady, consistent, schemes, physical, they're just football players, and that's what they did... No excuse, they (Sheridan) came out, they played solid, they played disciplined, and we started to break down in the second half."

Laramie (4-4) suffered their 14th consecutive loss to the Broncs. The Plainsmen had only 171 yards of offense. Upton ran for 94 yards on 15 carries. He was only 5-17 passing for 56 yards and two interceptions. LHS was held to one first down in the second half.

Sheridan finished with 356 yards of total offense. Christensen accounted for four touchdowns and had 104 yards rushing and 39 yards receiving on three catches.

The Broncs opened the scoring on their second drive. Christensen took it in from 3-yards out for a 7-0 lead with 4:57 left in the first quarter.

Laramie answered with a 13-play drive that took over five minutes. Upton had some huge passes to Alex Flores of 26-yards and to Caleb Eaton of 17-yards on the drive. It was capped off by David Tangeman’s 25-yard field early in the second quarter.

The Plainsmen had another drive going later in the second, but an interception ended the threat at the Sheridan 19-yard line.

LHS is now locked into the No. 5 seed in the Class 4A playoffs. They will face either Sheridan or Cheyenne East on the road in the first round of the playoffs Oct. 26.

Reed said, "It would've been nice to host a game. Been nice not to get back on that yellow thing. The season's not over, we still have things to play for. We need to come out and execute, and figure out how we function together as a unit, especially in that second half after things started to fall apart."

Next is the regular season finale at No. 2 Thunder Basin in Gillette next Friday night. Kick-off is at 6 p.m.