GMS football triumph over Rocky in opener

Greybull’s eighth grade football team kicked off their season with a win on Saturday against Rocky Mountain.

Head Coach Logan Burningham broke down his team’s results and praised his team’s hard work: “As a whole, everyone on the team made at least one play that helped lead to the score. We started out with a big return on the opening kickoff. We ended the drive by turning the ball over on downs on our 4-yard line.

“Defense came onto the field and, boy, were they ready to go: they had three negative plays to start the game and punted from their own 1-yard line. This set up a great field position where we marched down and Jax Miller scored on a botched snap.”

After the initial adrenaline wore off, the boys had to maintain their lead.

“Some mistakes in the second half kept the game tight as a bit of [negative progression] and a bad snap let Rocky make a touchdown,” said Burningham. “After this our offense got going finishing the game with a thirty-two-yard TD Pass from Briston Craft to Jayden Marchant. The last TD came on a six-yard run from Quin Coyne to finish it off at twenty-six to six.”

While the young footballers won the first game of their season, Burningham knows they have a ways to go.

“Overall, the defense played outstanding [by] giving up on one big play and holding Rocky below 100 total yards. The offense delivered when it needed to, but we must clean up some missed cues.”

The 7th grade football team, which played ahead of the 8th graders, also learned valuable lessons and found room for growth.

“[When] our players realized that the low man wins and it’s not about size, we played a lot better,” Burningham explained. “For this group, there is going to be a ton of growth as the season progresses. There were missed opportunities, but if [we had] capitalized, it would have been a way closer game.”

Moving forward, the team will be focusing on perfecting plays and defensive rallying.

The teams will play again on Saturday, Sept. 14, in Shoshoni at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., respectively.