Tyler Johnson
[email protected]
ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING (September 18, 2020) – The Rock Springs High School football team new going into Friday night’s matchup with the defending state champions was going to be a tough, uphill battle.
The Tigers lost to the Sheridan High School Broncs, 42-12, at home. After the game, Rock Springs head coach Mark Lenhardt tipped his hat to the Broncs.
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“That’s good football team. They played fast and they played well. It was one of those things where we needed some things to go our way and they didn’t. (Sheridan) made plays. We left a few things out there,” he said.
“Coming into it, we knew it was going to be an uphill battle. I’m proud of my guys. They didn’t quit. They played all the way until the end. We just got to take our medicine and move onto next week.”
The first quarter was tightly contested. The Broncs marched down the field, taking nearly half the time off the clock before punching in a one-yard rushing touchdown in the opening possession. The Tigers responded with a quick drive of their own. With 1:08 left, junior Isaac Schoenfeld rushed for an 11-yard touchdown.
The Tigers missed the extra point attempt, which kept it a one-point advantage for the Broncs at 7-6.
Lenhardt was pleased with what he saw from his offense, specifically Schoenfeld, who finished with 11 yards rushing and 83 reception yards on six catches.
“He’s a force. He’s done a lot of really, really good things for us. He’s having an all-state kind of year for us,” Lenhardt said. “I think we did some nice things offensively. We just can’t play behind the sticks against a team like this. When we had a penalty, it was a drive killer almost every time.”
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The Broncs showed why their the defending state champions for the rest of the game. They maintained the Tigers offense and managed to add another five touchdowns.
But there was no quit in the Tigers. With four minutes left, junior quarterback Brock Bider found junior Andrew Skorcz for a nine-yard touchdown pass to make it a 42-12 game in favor of Sheridan.
Bider finished the game with 209 passing yards, completing 87% of his passes.
Lenhardt said this week that the game served as measuring stick of where his team is and how far it needs to go.
“I think it just shows we just don’t have the team speed that some of these teams do. As coaches, we got to get to the drawing board and find a way to keep the ball inside at all costs because when it gets to the perimeter, we’re in trouble,” he said. “We got holes. We got some glaring holes and Coach Mowry and his staff are good enough to find them and they did that tonight. We just got to keep working to get better.”
The Tigers will look to bounce back in Casper Friday, Sept. 25, when they face the Natrona County Mustangs at 6 p.m.
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