HEM outpaced by Pronghorns

The Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners faced the number one team in their playoff division on Saturday when they went up against the Farson-Eden Pronghorns.

The Pronghorns kept the Miners scoreless and continued their march to the championship with a 0-70 win.

Head Coach Zach Scott wasn't disappointed with his team.

"Farson has a very tough physical team," Scott said. "They came out very strong. The kids gave it their best and, as a coach, you can't ask more."

Scott was philosophical about the season.

"It was a 2020 season, things have just been unpredictable," Scott said. "The best thing I can say about it, the kids improved each week."

Scott said although the Miners did not have a winning season, he could not fault their effort.

"They worked hard and they tried," Scott said. "A lot of it was not controllable on our part. We had no idea who was going to be at practice week to week and we had a lot of growing to do before we could be a football team."

Even with the adversity of students not being able to come to practice sometimes for a few weeks at a time, Scott said there were still bright spots to the team.

He said senior Devon Grosstick had an excellent season with a tremendous amount of all purpose yards.

Scott also had praise for his other seniors.

"Ura (Schmidt) had an amazing amount of catches and led our team physically and emotionally," Scott said. "T K (Taylor Kennedy) really stepped up. He went from not having many receptions to being one of the most important parts of our team."

Besides the seniors, Scott was proud of how well Tom Wagner had come along this season.

"Tom has really stepped into a role of leadership and he is going to be a very good football player," Scott said. "He is really getting the game."

Commenting on the game against Farson, Scott said that the Pronghorns had 11 seniors suit up.

"We have 12 players total to 11 seniors," Scott said. "I am not trying to make excuses, but we were just outmanned. The kids tried hard, fought hard, but it didn't go our way."

Although the year did not go well for seniors this year, he said they should not be disappointed.

"Our senior class have won far more football games than they ever lost in their high school career," Scott said.

Scott understands that football in small schools can be cyclical.

"You either have the athletes or you don't," Scott said. "What we try to work with is giving the kids the skills to enjoy the game. I always tell them, "If you aren't having fun, you are doing it wrong.'"