Tigers pounce on Pronghorns

To say the Encampment Tigers dominated the gridiron in their first home game of the season would be an understatement.

Hosting the Farson-Eden Pronghorns on September 9, Encampment tore into the Pronghorns with a 63-6 victory. Just a few seasons before, it was the Pronghorns who had cut short Encampent’s path to the State Championship during their first conference season with their new six-man program. As this season begins, it would seem the Tigers are serious about returning to War Memorial Stadium.

In the opening seconds of the game, Encampment took advantage of the first kickoff return as Kaben Pickett ran for 77 yards to score the first points of the game. This was followed shortly after by a touchdown from Quade Jordan.

“I thought that the team came out and started fast against Farson,” said Head Coach Kegan Willford. “Football is a game of momentum and I feel like we gained momentum early and continued to build off that momentum for the rest of the game.”

In the 1st quarter, Farson also scored a touchdown following a 23 yard rush. It would be the only time that Encampment would let the Pronghorns score. Throughout the rest of the game, the Tigers would put up a stellar defense which barely let Farson make it past the 50 yard line. The offense, meanwhile, continued to tear through the Pronghorns.

In the 2nd quarter, Encampment would throw up a total of 35 points with three touchdowns from Jordan and a touchdown from Pickett. Pickett would also make three conversions while Gunner Henrie kicked for a point-after-touchdown. The combined scoring from the Tigers would put them up 47-6 as the first half came to an end. While the next two quarters wouldn’t see the same amount of scoring, Encampment continued to keep the Pronghorns scoreless.

During the 3rd quarter, Jordan would score another touchdown. This, combined with a safety and a point-after-touchdown, put up 10 points for the Tigers and initiated the mercy clock for Farson-Eden. The running clock not only worked against the Pronghorns, but against Encampment as well as they scored a single touchdown in the 4th quarter, this one from Kannon Gilbert.

Jordan led the Tigers with five touchdowns against Farson-Eden while Pickett led in kick-off returns with a total of 99 yards across two returns. Henrie was the passing leader with 144 yards and 10 complete passes.

“I thought we played well in all three phases of the game and were able to fix some things that gave us problems from the week before,” said Willford. “It was great to get a conference win.”

Following this weekend, Encampment is 2-0 for the season with their win against the Natrona County Sophomores the week before. They are 1-0 for conference play and are sitting at No. 2 for the 1A South Six-Man Conference. This weekend, they will be hosted by the Dubois Rams, who are 1-1 for the season and 0-1 in conference play.

“This win should give us some confidence going into our game next week against Dubois,” said Willford.

The Tigers will take on the Rams at 2 p.m. on September 16 in Dubois.