CHEYENNE – A ball-hawking Cheyenne East defense forced five turnovers during a 49-7 victory over visiting Laramie during the first round of the Class 4A playoffs Friday at Okie Blanchard Stadium.
The top-ranked Thunderbirds (9-1) held Laramie to 231 yards of total offense and corralled four interceptions to reach the semis, where they’ll host Sheridan (7-3).
“Laramie came out and had a really time-consuming drive on its first possession, but I was really proud of the way our kids bent but didn’t break,” East coach Chad Goff said. “They got the ball back with an interception and never looked back.”
East scored on its opening drive when senior quarterback Graedyn Buell found Gavin Goff at the 2-yard line. Goff spun to his left, away from a tackle attempt by Laramie’s Travis Judd and into the end zone.
The Plainsmen (2-8) ran nearly 7 minutes off the clock on their ensuing drive. They lined up for a 55-yard field goal on fourth-and-6 from the East 38, but got new life when East jumped offsides. Colter Nunn converted the first down on the next play to keep the drive alive.
Three plays later, T-Birds senior linebacker Trey Bower grabbed an interception on an attempted screen pass to end the drive.
Laramie had five of its first six drives end because of turnovers.
“We were executing well early, the line was blocking really well and there were holes for us to run through,” said Nunn, who rushed for 87 yards on 18 carries. “When Jake (Vigen) needed to pass, the line was blocking pretty well, but sometimes things don’t go the way you hoped.
“We had a lot of drives end because of turnovers. Hopefully we can fix some of those things next season.”
The Plainsmen were without senior Isaac Sell – the leading rusher in Class 4A – who tore all three ligaments in his right knee during the regular season finale. Laramie was able to move the ball at times, gaining 10 first downs.
Vigen was pressured by East senior Adrian Hernandez on his first interception. Hernandez forced a fumble on Laramie’s second possession that senior linebacker Jaret Taylor picked up and returned 17 yards.
“(Hernandez) put everything on the line,” said Bower, who had six tackles. “He has really stepped it up and has been playing good the past couple weeks.”
Taylor also returned an interception 17 yards during the second quarter. That set up an 18-yard screen pass for a touchdown from Buell to junior running Cade Pugh.
“I saw the receiver come back into the field from the sideline and the quarterback locked eyes with him,” Taylor said. “I broke that way and (Vigen) threw a high ball I was able to grab.”
East entered the game No. 3 in 4A in total defense (309 yards per game) and tied for second in scoring defense (17.3 points per game). The lone blemish on the T-Birds’ defensive résumé was 198 yards per game surrendered on the ground, which ranked fifth in the state.
They held Laramie 75 yards below its season average.
“We wanted to stay humble and do whatever we needed to do to win this game,” said Hernandez, who had six tackles (five solo). “We talked a lot about going 1-0 this week and not letting our No. 1 seed or Laramie being without its best rusher get into our heads.
“We had to focus on this week and focus on the long run, and that’s what we did.”
Buell entered the game leading 4A in passing and all-purpose average, and did nothing to hurt those rankings. He completed 19 of 25 passes for 272 yards and six touchdowns. Buell also had 120 yards rushing and a touchdown on 11 carries.
He had six carries for 50 yards and the touchdown on East’s final drive of the first half. It took over on its own 20 with 1 minute, 45 seconds remaining in the second quarter after Jackson Hesford snagged the first of his two interceptions.
“We had a drive like that a few weeks ago where we got the ball with 58 seconds left in the half, and we didn’t use one of our three timeouts,” Chad Goff said. “(Buell) is good, and our receivers understand to get out of bounds as soon as they catch the ball.
“We practice that situation a lot, and it’s nice to see the guys go out and execute what they practice.”
Gavin Goff hauled in seven passes for 95 yards and two scores. Senior Jake Rayl caught five passes for 52 yards and two touchdowns.
Laramie’s touchdown came on a 4-yard run from junior Grahm Jaques with 3:28 remaining in the game. Jaques also had seven tackles and a fumble recovery on defense. His seven tackles included five solo stops.
Gavin Kopp finished with seven tackles (five solo).
EAST 49, LARAMIE 7
Laramie…… 0 0 0 7 – 0
Cheyenne East…… 13 22 14 0 – 49
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
CE: Goff 12 pass from Buell (LaRue kick), 10:16.
CE: Hesford 14 pass from Buell (LaRue kick failed), 0:29.
Second Quarter
CE: Rayl 14 pass from Buell (Goff pass from Buell), 7:05.
CE: Pugh 18 pass from Buell (LaRue kick), 5:49.
CE: Buell 2 run (LaRue kick), :09.
Third Quarter
CE: Schlabs 23 pass from Buell (LaRue kick), 8:40.
CE: Rayl 8 pass from Buell (LaRue kick), 4:11.
Fourth Quarter
L: Jacques 4 run (Tangeman kick), 3:28.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Laramie: G. Dodd 1-11, Vigen 6-31, Jaques 5-13, C. Nunn 18-87. Cheyenne East: Cad. Pugh 5-17, Buell 11-120, Brinkman 2-22, Lopez 3-30.
Passing
Laramie: Vigen 12-26-4 89. Cheyenne East: Buell 19-25-0 272, Bartlett 0-2-1 0.
Receiving
Laramie: Devine 2-10, G. Dodd 4-21, Jaques 3-17, Tangeman 1-29, Kopp 2-12. Cheyenne East:Hesford 4-58, Cad. Pugh 1-18, Schlabs 2-49, Goff 7-95, Rayl 5-52.
Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on Twitter at @jjohnke.
