Defensive stand preserves GMS win in Thermop

A defensive stand on the play from scrimmage preserved a 26-21 win for Greybull in the “game of the season so far” Saturday in Thermopolis.

Coach Logan Burningham said his A team of middle school gridders faced adversity throughout, but came out on the other side with “a memory that will be remembered” for the rest of their lives.

It was a game of momentum swings. The Buffs started fast, scoring on their first possession on a 5-yard run by Siul Valadez, who proceeded to add the PAT kick for an 8-0 lead.

But the Bobcats answered that score with two of their own, going up 13-8.

The Buffs regained the lead, at 14-13, on a 75-yard pass from Colt Collingwood to Kade Julson, but gave it up moment later when a bad snap resulted in a safety and a 15-14 Thermop lead at the half.

The surprising turn of events shook the young Buffs.

“Players heads were down as we walked over to the endzone to talk,” said Burningham. “All we said was mistakes get made in sports all the time, don’t let it snowball into another one, forget it and move on. 

“We also talked about having more energy in the second half and we did exactly that feeding off Kru Keisel.”

The Buffs scored the next two touchdowns — on Valadez runs of 44 and 31 yards — to put some distance between themselves at the Bobcats.  

But it was white-knuckle time from there, as Thermopolis scored on its next possession to pull within 26-21, prevented the Buffs from scoring (in part due to a touchdown being called back due to a block-in-the-back penalty) and got the ball back with about 3:30 left.

The Bobcats “drove the length of the field,” reaching the Greybull 10 with four seconds remaining.  

“It was all going to come down to getting a stop on the final play,” Burningham recalled. “Thermop snapped it and threw a quick pass to their slot, who broke a couple of tackles before being gang tackled by the Buffs to end the game.

“The kids all jumping up and down, yelling with excitement ... gave a memory for all of us that will be remembered for a lifetime.”

GMS will play split-squad games this week, with the C team playing Rocky Mountain today at 6 p.m. and the A team facing Wind River Saturday at 10 a.m.  Both are home games.