Miners succumb to Tigers at home

The previous week the Encampment Tigers High School football team had a tough loss to Dubois, who were smarting from the loss to Little Snake River Valley the week before that.

The Tigers wanted the football world to know they were still contenders for a state title and were out to prove so, in their next game.

A young Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miner High School football team is who the Tigers faced.

The Miners have played well in their past games, although the scores did not always show it. On this Friday afternoon, it was a bit windy, but the Miners hoped to have a decent day. It was not to be.

From almost the start, Encampment scored when they got the ball. It is not to say the Miner defense was stopping the Tigers, but when the Miner offense got the ball, it seemed bad luck was part of the play.

The 1st quarter, Gunner Henrie hit Bristin Sifford for the first score. The conversion was good and it was 8 to 0. Quade Jordan ran in two touchdowns and by the end of the 1st quarter, the score was 21 to 0. 

The 2nd quarter did not produce any points for the Miners while Encampment had Jordon score two touchdowns and Kaban Pickett went in for a score. At halftime the Tigers led the Miners 43 to 0.

The 3rd quarter the Miner defense kept the Tigers to one score. An interception caught by Sifford which he ran 78 yards to score. The score was 49 to 0 at the end of the quarter.

The 4th quarter, the Miners had penalties and fumbles. One drive had them five yards to goal and the ball was lost. 

Dashaal Baysinger hit Korbyn Barkhurst and Baylin Sifford for scores.  Bristin Sifford ran a fumble in to score as did Caleb Koehn. At the end of the game, the Encampment Tigers beat the HEM Miners 70 to 0.

"We hurt ourselves a lot," HEM head coach Zac Scott said. "You can't win any football games when you give the ball away as much as we did, it is just plain and simple."

Scott noted the end of the game where the Miners gave away two touchdowns.

"The last couple scores by the Tigers, which were just errors, made the game look a lot worse than it was," Scott said. "We have a lot to work on and we are going to continue to work on it. We will come out on the winning side eventually."

Miner Tom Wagner gained a total of 85 yards against a team that was doing its best to shut down the run. Although he did not score, his effort was strong and noticeable.

Head Coach Kegan Willford was pleased with his teams' game on this sunny Friday.

"After our loss to Dubois, we knew we had to come out and play Tiger football and establish the respect we are a physical team," Willford said. "Anytime you lose seven seniors like we did this year, you look for the next players to step up. We have three seniors this year, but the majority of our strength this year is juniors and sophomores. We have a lot of sophomores who did not play a lot last year, so this means they are being asked to step up."

Willford said his young players are maturing quickly and getting better with each game.

The Encampment Tiger who are 3-1 face Kaycee Buckaroos who are 4-0 in Kaycee on Friday, September 30.

The HEM Miners 0-4 will be going up against the Midwest Oilers who are 2-2 in Midwest on Friday, September 30.