Buffs to honor their 12 seniors

Greybull tops Wind River, improves to 7-0

The Greybull Buffs again leaned on their top-ranked rushing attack Thursday night in Pavillion, throttling the Wind River Cougars 45-8 to officially clinch the conference title and home-field advantage for up to the first two rounds of the nine-man football playoffs.

With a win later today over Wyoming Indian, the Buffs can polish off the school’s first unbeaten regular season since 1989.

Wind River had no answers for the Greybull rushing attack, which finished with 376 yards, just a shade below its season average of 399 yards per game.

While the Cougars kept Bennett Sanford under wraps, limiting the class’s leading rusher to 24 yards on six carries, his teammate Jesse Brown ran wild, with 10 rushes for 270 yards and four touchdowns.

Coach Jeremy Pouska said the game plan was similar to previous games, that being to alternate carries between the two to keep them fresh. 

But with Wind River being focused on stopping Sanford, the Buffs instead found running room on fullback dives, quarterback keepers and counters.

“Most of Jesse’s success came out of our counter plays — and he made some great cuts,” said Pouska.

The Buffs finished with 400 yards of offense compared to 299 for the Cougars.  Wind River ran far more plays from scrimmage -- 66 compared to 41 for the Buffs  — but did little with them, scoring just the single touchdown.

“These are the type of games that are great to win, but they’re also the ones where it’s hard to keep the kids engaged,” said Pouska. “We have to keep executing at a certain level, regardless of the opponent.”

In addition to Brown’s four scores, the Buffs also got a touchdown run by Caiden Sorenson and a touchdown pass from Caden Hunt to Yandel Hernandez.

Pouska said the Buffs started subbing out late in the third and that the JV saw most of the playing time in the fourth.

The Cougars fell to 1-6 with the loss; their only win of the season came at the expenses of Wyoming Indian.

The Chiefs, at 0-7 overall, will be playing out the string when they come to Greybull today (Thursday, Oct. 23).  The game kicks off at 5 p.m.

The Buffs will honor their 12 seniors at 4:30 p.m. “So far, their work ethic and drive toward what they want to accomplish has been unmatched,” said Pouska. 

As for the game itself, Pouska said the message to his team will be to “respect the opponent, respect the sport we play and treat this week no different than any of the rest.”

After this week, the Buffs will turn their attention to the playoffs.  They’ll host a quarterfinal game next week; Pouska said he didn’t know if it would be Friday, Oct. 31 or Saturday, Nov. 1.

The Buffs are likely to face either Wright or Lusk; those two teams will play later this week for the East’s No. 4 seed behind Pine Bluffs, Lingle-Fort Laramie and Saratoga.

Greybull 45, Wind River 8

G — Jesse Brown 48 yard run (Bennett Sanford run)

G — Brown 44 yard run (Caden Hunt run)

G — Caiden Sorenson 5 yard run (Hunt run)

G — Brown 73 yard run.

G — Brown 55 yard run (Hunt run).

G — Yandel Hernandez 9-yard pass from Cord Edeler (Jose Acuna kick)

RUSHING — Wind River  63-299; Greybull 31-376 (Brown 10-270, Hunt 5-27, Sanford 6-24, Edeler 3-25, Mason Richardson 1-16, Sorenson 4-8, Jax Miller 2-6).

PASSING — Wind River 0-of-3 for 0 yards; Greybull 3-of-10 for 24 yards.

RECEIVING — Yandel Hernandez 2-16, Richardson 1-8.

DEFENSIVE STANDOUTS — William Harlow led with 20  defensive points (6 solo tackles, 8 assisted tackles), followed by Sorenson with 16.5 (6 solos, 4 assists, 0.5 TFL), Hernandez with 15 (2 solos, 6 assists, 1 fumble recovery) and Jordi Araiza with 12 (3 solos, 6 assists).