Cyclones win 4th straight title

by Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

The Southeast Cyclones aren't a passing team and Friday's weather conditions reaffirmed to head coach Mark Bullngton that they needed to just stick to the game plan.

The Cyclones ran the ball all day, often in a driving snowstorm, and Tanner May was the beneficiary, as he rushed for 160 yards and scored twice as the Cyclones won their fourth straight championship, stopping Lingle-Fort Laramie 27-20 Friday in the Wyoming Class 1A state football title game at War Memorial Stadium.

The game was played under blizzard conditions, with the Jonah Field turf white for much of the contest. There were 13 fumbles in the game, 10 by Lingle-Fort Laramie, which lost three. With just six passes thrown between the two teams, the Cyclones, 10-1, relied on the hard running of May.

"It just made us use our big gun that we were going to use, Tanner May," Bullington said. "He has quick enough feet that he can cut a little bit on this type of surface. That first touchdown, you saw that, that little cutback that he made. He has quick feet."

May scored on a 32-yard run in the first quarter, one play after a high snap over the Lingle-Fort Laramie punter's head. May then broke a 14-14 tie on a 58-yard TD run in the third quarter.

Blake Herbst gave Southeast a 14-0 lead in the second quarter on a 1-yard run. The score was set up when May picked up a punt and ran it 30 yards to the Lingle-Fort Laramie 16-yard line.

Although he didn't get into the end zone on that play, Bullington said that type of effort enabled the Cyclones to have the upper edge.

"A lot of people would have just let it roll, but he picked it up and got us field position. It's harder to drive the field 80 yards. Field position plays a big part in high school football," Bullington said.

The Cyclones made it 27-14 when Skyler Kirchhefer recovered a Lingle Fort-Laramie fumble in the end zone with 1:53 left in the contest.

The game was far from over, though, despite only a couple of minutes remaining. Dakota Forkner's third touchdown of the game, from 5 yards out with 1:36 remaining, gave the Doggers some hope.

Although Lingle-Fort Laramie would get the ball back late in the game, the Southeast defense held strong and the Doggers wouldn't threaten.

Forkner had a big day for the Doggers, 9-2, as he opened the second half with an 87-yard kickoff return for a score. he also scored on a 7yard TD run in the third quarter to tie the game at 14-each.

For the Cyclones season, the win capped a successful career that ended with the first-place trophy each year.

"I think it means a lot to them," Bullington said of four straight titles. "These kids have never lost a last game of the season. They are 40-4 over four years. I tell you what, to be in that many games, that's 44 games. These kids have almost played another season and a half."