Richard Anderson photo
Laramie junior fullback Charles Swearingen looks for some running room Friday night against Cheyenne East.
By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
CHEYENNE -- There was no getting around it: The Laramie Plainsmen have seen this before and they don’t like it.
“It was a really hard loss; we played hard, though,” Laramie junior fullback/linebacker Charles Swearingen said after the Plainsmen dropped a 19-6 decision to Cheyenne East Friday night at Okie Blanchard Stadium “We just have to play the first quarter harder, I guess. We have to start off stronger because it sucks losing.”
East, the defending Class 5A state champions didn’t look like a team early that had lost seven all-state performers, scoring the first three times they touched the football.
As was the case last week in the seven-point loss to Steamboat Springs, Colo., the Plainsmen showed marked improvement in the second half, but could not overcome their early deficiencies.
“We did the same thing that we did last week, and that is not something we want to do,” Laramie head coach Bob Knapton said. “We’re going to have to make some changes and do something because we can’t come out there and play defense like that and act like we are having a Chinese fire drill until we wake up and start playing ball.”
Kanpton said that the Plainsmen will need to take a couple of steps back and go through the base coverages.
“Maybe we’re trying to think too much,” he said. “Maybe we need to slow down and get it down right. When we make our adjustments, we play great ball. But we have to figure out how to make those adjustments when the game starts, so when we start, we’re not surprised by anything.
“They came out in a double tight (end) and I think that kind of shook some of our guys up. It’s like, just get into some coverages, settle down and play some ball. That’s on me. I have to have them ready to go and get them to settle down and be ready to play ball. If we’re going to be in a situation where we are going to get shocked, we have to find a way to relax, come to our checks and play ball.”
East senior Shane Potter, in his first varsity start at quarterback, looked polished early and had plenty of time to pick apart the bewildered Laramie defense. Potter drove the T-Birds 80 yards on seven plays on their first possession, highlighted by a 35-yard pass to Bruce McHenry and a 21-yard pass to Jeremiah Hunter. Potter then took it in himself on a 12-yard touchdown run.
After a three-and-out by the Plainsmen offense, Potter and Co. were at it again, going 10 plays and 56 yards, capped by a 4-yard touchdown run by Marcus Phippin. The Plainsmen found themselves down 13-0 with 2:59 still remaining in the third quarter.
East then made it 16-0 mid-way in the second quarter on a 26-yard field goal by Tyler Haak. Potter highlighted that drive with a 33-yard run.
Laramie did make some adjustments in the second half and finally got on the scoreboard on a 7-yard run by senior quarterback Coleton Wilson, but with just 7:17 to play in the game.
The drive began after a fumble recovery by sophomore linebacker Austin Ontiveroz. Laramie drove the ball 73 yards on 13 plays.
The Plainsmen saw a nice drive stall earlier in the third quarter when the ball was snapped over Wilson’s head on a 41-yard field goal attempt.
East responded with a nice drive that resulted in a 28-yard field goal by Haak. The Plainsmen had one more drive in them, but stalled on downs on the East 26-yard line with a little under two minutes to play. Wilson connected with Nathan Cowper on consecutive passes of 19 and 12 yards, but he misfired on his last three attempts.
Laramie had just 46 total yards on offense in the first half, but finished with 195 in the game.
“We have to make sure we do everything right and not have penalties,” Knapton said. “We got ourselves in a little hole with penalties and sometimes we let them stunt on us. We’re just not clicking on all cylinders on offense just yet, although it was a little better.
“We’ll take look at film, but we have to move the ball a little better than that.”
The Plainsmen had five offensive penalties for a minus 30 yards.
Senior running back Jon Sorenson led the way with 73 yards on 15 carries, with Swearingen adding 45 yards on 12 rushes, Mike Lanich added 25 yards on 10 carries, but Wilson lost 36 yards on the day with several sacks.
Wilson, despite hurting his arm in the game, was much improved over the opener by completing 9 of 16 passes for 90 yards.
Potter had an outstanding all-around day for the T-Birds, as he led the team in rushing with 79 yards on 15 carries, while competing 9 of 14 passes for 176 yards. East had 213 yards on the ground, with Michael Galicia adding 59 yards and McHenry 58 yards on three carries.
Laramie will now look to bounce back Friday at home when it hosts Sheridan in the annual Homecoming contest.
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