Bobcats shock Herders for 2A title

by Bobby Abplanalp
Wyoming Sports.org

The Thermopolis Bobcats came into a snow-packed War Memorial Stadium and left with the Wyoming 2A State Championship with a 22-20 upset win over the previously unbeaten and number one ranked Glenrock Herders at Jonah Field Friday afternoon.

Thermopolis stopped Glenrock on fourth down on its opening drive and then marched down the field 40 yards to set up quarterback Mitch Syverson’s 17-yard touchdown and the Bobcats would never trail. Syverson would keep it again running in from three yards out for the two-point conversion and the Bobcats led 8-0 over the number one ranked Herders after one quarter of play.

Glenrock would come back in the second orchestrating and 81-yard drive, which was highlighted by quarterback Kyle Farley scampering 63-yards down the right sideline before Tanner Cornwell of Thermopolis tackled him inside the 5- yard-line to save a touchdown. Running back Austin Smith would eventually punch it in from two yards out to bring the Herders within two. Dustin Worthington ran in the two-point conversion up the middle to nod things up 8-8.

Thermopolis would come back on their next possession going 68-yards with one big first down catch of 14-yards hauled in by Chris Leyba, before Syverson ran 50-yards down the left sideline for his second touchdown of the half regaining the lead for the Bobcats 14-8. The two-point pass failed and that’s where the score stood at halftime. Syverson finished the half with 141 total yards.

The first turnover of the game came on Glenrocks’ opening possession of the third quarter when the Herders attempted a fake punt on a pass by Farley that was picked off by Thermopolis linebacker Chris Ryan setting up the Bobcats in prime field position.

Leyba would get his second catch of the day on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Syverson to increase their lead to 12. The next play Leyba got his third catch on a three-yard two-point conversion from Syverson making the Bobcat lead 22-8.

The score stayed the same heading into the fourth, but Glenrock was knocking on the door after Farley hit Worthington for a 34-yard pass down to the one yard-line. Worthington then punched it in on the first play of the fourth quarter from two yards out to trim the deficit to 22-14.

A major turn of events would take place during the next minute of play when Matt Morgan recovered a fumble for the Herders on the ensuing kickoff. The next play Farley hit Worthington for a long pass and then he fumbled the ball right back to Thermopolis. Two plays later Syverson would make Glenrock pay with a 53-yard run to the Herders 39 yard-line.

However, Thermopolis would stall on the 38 yard-line and turn the ball over on downs to Glenrock giving the Herders new momentum.

Farley and Worthington would lead their team down the field once again and on third and goal, Cory Dewald capped the drive off with a four-yard run to cut the score to 22-20. Farley’s two-point pass was incomplete, so Thermopolis still remained on top by two with 5:41 to play.

“It was pretty tough being there on the sidelines. You want to be in there so bad,” Syverson said about his defense stopping the 2-point conversion. “All you can do is be a cheerleader for them and the defense did an excellent job; hats off to them.”

Thermopolis would try and run out the clock on their final drive and Syverson converted a big fourth and two from the 36 yard-line to keep the drive alive with 2:12 remaining and a two point lead. Glenrock could not stop the clock and the celebration was on for the Bobcats.

Syverson finished the game with 262 total yards completing 10-18 passes for 107 yards and touchdown, while rushing for 155 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns. Kyle Larson had 64 yards on 11 carries and targets Herold and Kyle Pebbles each had four catches for 47 and 24 yards respectively.

“Doubling up our outside guys really opened up our running game,” Thermopolis head coach Chuck Syverson said. “Mitch (Syverson) had a 155 yards rushing and basically kind of controlled the game with our running game. It was one of those days you have to kind of do what you have to do to get the win and we were fortunate enough to do that.”

“Glenrock is a very good team,” Mitch Syverson said. “This is a team effort. We ran the ball very well, we got away from the pass and that really helped us a lot. The linemen did an excellent job, an excellent job up front by the D-Line. We felt like we had this one pretty wrapped up.”

On the defensive side, Leyba had a game high 19 tackles and Larson recorded 15 with a half-a-sack.

Dewald led Glenrock with 13 tackles, including one tackle for loss.

Worthington had 160 total yards in the game rushing for 85 of those on 21 carries and caught three balls for 75 yards. Farley had 179 total yards going 4 for 7 in the air for 97 yards, while getting 82 yards on the ground on just five carries.

“Our leadership has always been powerful,” Glenrock head coach Ray Kumpula said. “They showed their true colors today when they got down and still didn’t get down and fought back.”

“You got to take your hats off to them,” Kumpula said about Thermopolis. “They turned around their program, they got a spread offense and they got great athletes. They made the big play when they needed to, so they deserve the win.”