Plainsmen get their revenge against Tigers

Richard Anderson photos
Laramie quarterback Jon Sorenson looks for some running room in a scrum Friday against Rock Springs. Sorenson broke the tackle and finished with 142 yards rushing in the 35-14 win. At left, senior Dan Estes wraps up a Rock Springs runner as the Plainsmen defense dominated the game as well.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

When push came to shove last season against Rock Springs, the Laramie Plainsmen backed off down the stretch.

On Friday, that concern soon went by the wayside as the Plainsmen were the aggressor for much of the night, especially late in thumping the Tigers 35-14 to open the season at Deti Stadium.

“We came out and we were busting them in the mouth; we were going 100 percent and that’s what we need to do. It paid off,” Laramie senior linebacker Luke Knapton said.

Last year, the Plainsmen led 21-7 heading into halftime and 28-7 going into the fourth quarter. They would eventually lose by seven in overtime.

Friday night, the Plainsmen took a 21-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Second-year head coach Bob Knapton was not exactly at ease during the 20-minute break.

“It was kind of déjà vu. We go into at halftime with the same score than last time, so that was kind of concerning,” Bob Knapton said. “We came out and scored, then they scored. I was kind of getting on some of the kids to suck it up and get going. It’s great to get a win like that at home, to come back and play that hard in the second half to just take over.”

The turning point in the second half came early in the fourth quarter after the Tigers cut the lead to 28-14 and had the Plainsmen pinned back on their own 3-yard line. But quarterback Jon Sorenson turned to a punter and delivered a beauty for 57 yards and the Tigers would never threaten again.

Laramie’s hard-hitting defense forced Rock Springs to punt and the Plainsmen offense took over for the final score a little later to put Bob Knapton’s mind at ease.

“That’s where you have 20 seniors and that happens,” Bob Knapton said of the team remaining calm. “People are looking for somebody to step up."

Sorenson said they couldn't get down despite being pinned deep in their own territory.

“You have to focus up and know that you have worked hard and you can get out of this," Sorenson said. "We punted, got the stop on D and then we scored right. That’s what we have to do with our mentality every day.”

Take away a little second-quarter lull and a brief Rock Springs comeback and the Plainsmen dominated on both sides of the football. Laramie’s double wing spread offense clicked well at times, led by the hard running of Sorenson and fullback Charles Swearingen.

The Plainsmen finished with 271 yards on the ground, including 142 from Sorenson. Swearingen was a bull between the tackles with 74 yards on 16 carries and two touchdown runs. Laramie added 72 more yards on 3 of 7 passing from Sorenson, with Luke Knapton catching two big third-down catches in the second quarter for 28 yards. Senior receiver Kelby Wilkison added a nice 44-yard grab in the first quarter.

“We had a great offensive game plan from Coach (Josh) Barge. We knew what we needed to do,” Sorenson said. “The line got a great push and held their blocks. Our receivers did a great job of blocking down-field as well.”

It all started early for the Plainsmen, as hey moved the ball well on their first possession, but lost the football on a fumble. On their second try, they completed a 7-play, 77-yard drive on a 5-yard touchdown run by Swearingen. The score was set up by the 44-yard pass from Sorenson to Wilkison.

“We came out firing and at first we were moving the ball very well. We were consistently getting yards on every play,” Sorenson said. “We had a little slip-up with the fumble and we came back on the second drive and got a touchdown, and we just built momentum off of those two drives.”

The Plainsmen made it 14-0 late in the first quarter on a 2-yard touchdown run by senior halfback Dan Estes.

Rock Springs cut the lead in half on a 5-yard touchdown run by Ethan Thomas, but the Plainsmen answered with just 12.8 seconds left in the first half on a 1-yard plunge by Sorenson. That capped a 12-play, 72-yard drive.

Taking advantage of a fumble on the first play of the third quarter on the Tigers' 10-yard line, Estes scored his second TD of the game from 2 yards out.

A bad snap on a punt attempt forced Sorenson to scramble later in the quarter and it backfired, as the Tigers took over on downs on the Laramie 38-yard line. Rock Springs quarterback Wesley Padilla, who led the Tigers with 123 yards rushing, scored on a 23-yard scamper to make it a 28-14 game.

That set up the big punt and two defensive stops by the Plainsmen and Laramie never looked back. Swearingen closed the scoring on another 5-yard TD run, capping a six-play drive that was highlighted by a 39-yard run by Sorenson to the Rock Springs 29-yard line.

As sharp as the Laramie offense looked at times, the Plainsmen on defense were just as dominant. The Tigers had just 171 yards of total offense, with a bulk of it coming from the strong running of Padilla.

“The defense did a good job. They kept us in good field position and shut them down pretty good,” Bob Knapton said. “After they scored, we changed up our D and put our ends out a little wider. That’s the good thing about this defense, we can run a 50 out of it, we can run a 40 out of it; we can do a lot of things. I think they are a little ore familiar with it and they can do a better job this year.”

Luke Knapton finished with 20 defensive points on four assisted tackles and five unassisted tackles. Sorenson had 11 defensive points, followed by senior Tyler English with nine points and seniors Nathan Clark and Estes with eight points each.

“When we start hitting them hard, we start getting in their head and mistakes start happening. We capitalized off of that,” Luke Knapton said.

After just one win last season, the Plainsmen are off to the type of start they have envisioned all along. Bob Knapton said it is not only a relief for him and his coaching staff, but for the players as well.

“That’s just like grabbing that monkey off of my back and tossing him,” Bob Knapton said. “That feels good and the kids are like, “this is how we like to feel.’ I think you are going to see the kids scrapping in there and their goal is to get to the playoffs.”

The Plainsmen, however, had a tough stretch ahead of them that includes a matchup on the road next week against defending state champion Gillette.

“The first (win) is great going into Gillette. It will build us a lot of confidence,” Sorenson said. “But Gillette will be tough. They are the defending state champions and they have a lot back, so it should be a great game.”