Burlington bites down on Tigers in semifinals

The Encampment Tigers’ nearly undefeated season came to a heartbreaking end on Friday as they were dealt a loss by the Burlington Huskies in the semifinal round of the 1A Six-Man Playoffs. A mere 7 points separated the Tigers and Burlington.

“Our game against Burlington was a shootout as anticipated,” said Kegan Willford, head coach of the Encampment Tigers. “Burlington has a great team and they execute very well. Our team played hard and fought all game to try and gain the advantage but, in the end, couldn’t maintain the lead.”

The battle between the No. 2 team in the South and the No. 1 team in the North began early, with the Huskies scoring a touchdown and a point-after-touchdown (PAT) to throw 8 points on the board. Encampment responded with a touchdown of their own, this one from a 22 yard rush by Quade Jordan. A one-point conversion following a pass from Gunner Henrie to Kannon Gilbert brought the score 7-8.

Burlington, close to their endzone, scored another touchdown. This was answered by the Tigers as Jordan completed a 74 yard rush for a touchdown. A six-point conversion from the Huskies put the score at 13-20 at the end of the 1st quarter.

In the 2nd quarter, Jordan completed a 43 yard rush for a touchdown, followed by a PAT from Henrie to secure a slim 21-20 lead. Burlington responded with a six-point conversion and a PAT to push ahead 21-28. Ryon Miller completed a six-point conversion following a pass from Kaban Pickett to bring the score within a single point, again. As the first half came to an end, however, the Huskies began to pull ahead.

Burlington scored another touchdown, followed by a PAT, to put the score at 27-36. Jordan answered back for the Tigers with a touchdown, putting the score at 33-36. The Huskies, however, completed another touchdown and a PAT to lead 33-44 at halftime.

As both teams returned to the gridiron, Encampment pushed to try and regain the lead as Jordan scored two touchdowns—one after a 3 yard rush and another after a 70 yard rush—and a one-point conversion. For a brief moment, the Tigers led again, but Burlington again answered with two touchdowns of their own with a PAT following the second touchdown putting the score 46-58.

Jordan scored another touchdown, this one after a 51 yard rush, and Pickett completed a one-point conversion after a pass from Henrie. Before the 3rd quarter ended, though, Burlington made another six-point conversion to put the score 53-64 going into the final quarter.

The beginning of the 4th quarter saw Pickett complete a six-point conversion after a 56 yard pass from Henrie. Burlington answered back with a six-point conversion of their own and a PAT. Pickett, again, completed another six-point conversion with help from a 28 yard pass from Henrie. Henrie also completed a PAT to put the score 67-72. The Huskies scored another touchdown and completed a PAT to put the score at 67-80. The final play of the game came from Jordan, who completed a six-point conversion following a pass from Henrie.

The final score was 73-80.

“This game was back and forth the whole time and really came down to the team with the last possession would win the game,” said Willford.

The loss in the semi-final round of the playoffs brought an end to a season which was mostly undefeated, save for a regular season loss to the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Rattlers who will face the Huskies this weekend in Laramie.

Jordan was the rushing leader with 373 yards and a total of 7 touchdowns. Pickett was the receiving leader with 101 yards and Henrie was the passing leader with 150 yards.

“Overall, we had a good season this year and we had a great group that came out and competed each week,” said Willford. “I’m very proud of this group.”

Despite the loss, the Encampment Tigers have helped set a new unofficial state record with this match being the most points combined—153 points—in a postseason game. According to wyoming-football.com, the previous game with the most points combined in a postseason game was 150 points in the semifinal round between Lingle-Ft. Laramie and Hanna in 2019.