Encampment de-fangs Rattlers

Coming into 1A Six-Man Football, the Encampment Tigers have been an unknown quantity. While they hit the field last year, their entire schedule consisted of junior varsity games. This year, the Tigers appear to be hitting the gridiron with something to prove if this weekend's match against the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Rattlers, the defending 1A Six-Man State Champions, is any indication.

One week before hosting LSRV at Tiger Nation, Encampment had dealt a major loss to the Midwest Oilers with a final score of 63-7. The win for the Tigers took place the same weekend that the Rattlers were hosted by the 1A Six-Man State Runner-Ups, the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners. HEM would end up losing to the Rattlers 19-44.

While LSRV may have been able to sink their teeth into the Miners, they were buried by Encampment, who won on September 12 with a score of 56-21.

"Last week, we earned our first official varsity victory. This week, we earned our first varsity conference win," said Kegan Willford, head coach of the Encampment Tigers. "It was a big win for our program and should give us momentum moving forward."

The 1st quarter of Encampment's first conference game almost appeared as if it would be a battle of claws and fangs. While LSRV was scoreless, the Tigers only managed one touchdown thanks to a 27 yard rush from Dalton Peterson. By the 2nd quarter, however, both teams managed to get forward motion.

Encampment put 19 points on the board with the Rattlers throwing up 15 of their own. A 42 yard pass from Koye Gilbert to Peterson brough the Tigers from 6 points to 12 while an interception and 28 yard return from Peterson pushed them to 18 points. Two conversions, one from Koye Gilbert to Kagan Gilbert with a 22 yard pass and another from Peterson to Kagan Gilbert with a three yard pass, put the Tigers up 25-15 by halftime.

The 15 points scored by LSRV would be the most that the defending state champions would manage to get on the board throughout the entire game. Upon returning to the gridiron, the Rattlers scored a touchdown to bring them 4 points behind Encampment. A touchdown following a 15 yard rush from Peterson, along with an additional 3 yard rush for a conversion, gave the Tigers 7 points in the 3rd quarter and put the score at 32-21.

In the final quarter of the game, Encampment nimbly avoided the Rattlers fangs as they dominated their home field. A 59 yard pass from Koye Gilbert to Peterson put 6 more points on the board and a point-after-touchdown by Michael Anderson put the Tigers at 40-21 in the opening minutes of the 4th quarter.

Another pass from Koye Gilbert to Peterson, this one 15 yards, brought Encampment up to 46-21 and a safety added two more points. A 58 yard rush from Quade Jordan and another point after touchdown from Anderson put the final score at 56-21.

"I feel this was a complete team effort. All three phases-offense, defense, special teams-played well. We had a lot of players step up and fill their assigned roles," Willford said. "Hats off to Snake River. They have a good, young football team and they played hard."

Following their defeat of the Rattlers, Encampment is 2-0 for the season and 1-0 for conference. The Tigers currently sit at the top of the 1A West Six-Man Conference and are followed by the Farson-Eden Pronghorns (2-0, 1-0).

"We have another big game coming up this week as we travel to play Farson. Farson has a great team this season and has a history of playing very physical football," said Willford. "We look forward to seeing where we measure up against them."

The Encampment Tigers will face the Farson-Eden Pronghorns at 2 p.m. on September 18 in Farson-Eden.