HEM unleashes McGraw Machine

The Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School football team went to Sheridan to play the Normative Services Academy (NSI) on Friday and crushed the Wolves, 66-12.

“NSI is a team you never know what you are going to get,” Head Football Coach Zach Scott said. “There is an influx of kids that come and go, but they had some really good athletes on the team we played. They are a team that hits pretty hard.”

Scott said the Miners got on the board quickly and soon the score was heavily in favor of HEM.

“It was funny, when I looked up at the score and saw it was 39-0, I said to myself, how did that happen,” Scott said. “It happened because this team does what it has to do to win and take care of business.”

The Miners did take care of business by halftime.

“At the half it was 46-0,” Scott said. “So we knew we had the mercy clock. The Bighorns had a big rainstorm on top of them, so we were ready to get the game over.”

“Everybody got to play a lot,” Scott said. “More than half our team carried the ball.”

He said this game allowed all his players to participate.

Conor McGraw led the Miners in scoring with 18 points. His twin brother Shane scored 14 points.

There are some that call the McGraw brothers, the “McGraw Machine”. There is a reason.

Conor and Shane not only score, but Conor led the team in solo tackles, with two sacks, and Shane with eight solo tackles. Shane passed for 160 yards. He completed four out of five attempts.

Other players that scored touchdowns were Thomas Wagner, Ura Schmidt, Brendon Reeves, Joseph Borah and Andrew Scott.

Devon Grosstick got two interceptions from the Wolves.

Scott sees improvement with many of his players and is pleased they are doing well at this point in the season.

“David Cruz had an excellent defensive game and Ura Schmidt had a really great game, some excellent open field tackles and ran in a touchdown,” Scott said. “He is getting better every game.”

Scott said the Miners are ready to face Saratoga next week.

“I am looking forward to a good game because they are a good team and as a team we look forward to the challenge,” Scott concluded.

The Miners face the Panthers at 12 p.m. on Saturday at Hanna.