Encampment falls to Huskies

For another year, the Encampment Tigers were unable to make it past the semifinal round of the 1A Six-Man Playoffs to walk into War Memorial Stadium.

With their season at an end, they can take pride in the fact that their loss to the Burlington Huskies was a hard fought match. If playing in Laramie is the ultimate goal, then battling the defending state champions into triple-overtime is surely a close second.

“I’m super proud of everyone on the team. They left everything they had out on the field in this game,” said Head Coach Kegan Willford. “It hurts because we were that close to making a trip to Laramie, but everyone on the team needs to hold their head high.”

In what will likely go down as another historic match between the Tigers and the Huskies, Encampment ultimately fell 68-74 to Burlington.

In the 1st quarter, the Tigers drew first blood with a touchdown from Gunner Knotwell following a 2-yard rush. As it has been nearly all season, Kannon Gilbert wasn’t far behind with a touchdown of his own—this one after a 13-yard rush—to put the Tigers in the lead 12-0. Burlington completed a 26-yard pass for a 6-point conversion as they trailed 12-6 heading into the 2nd quarter.

Gilbert was the first to score in the 2nd quarter, receiving a 10-yard pass from Knotwell for a 6-point conversion. This, along with a point-after-touchdown from Knotwell, put Encampment up 20-6 over the Huskies. Burlington responded with two touchdowns of their own. One touchdown came following a 40-yard rush and the other a 2-yard rush. A PAT from the Huskies tied the score at halftime, 20-20.

“This was a back-and-forth, tough-fought game against Burlington,” said Willford.

The score going into halftime was a sign of things to come for the rest of the match as the two teams battled it out on the scoreboard. Returning for the 3rd quarter, the Huskies completed a 9-yard rush for a touchdown to lead 20-26. Encampment responded with a 6-point conversion following an 18-yard pass from Knotwell to Korbyn Barkhurst. Burlington answered back with a 9-yard pass to secure a 6-point conversion and lead 26-32 going into the 4th quarter.

Encampment dug their claws into the Huskies’ gridiron with a flurry of scoring in the 4th quarter, which saw the most scoring of the game as the Tigers put up 30 points and Burlington put up 24.

Gilbert secured a 6-point conversion following an 11-yard pass from Knotwell. A PAT put the Tigers in the lead 34-32. The duo of Gilbert/Knotwell continued with Gilbert scoring a touchdown rushing for one yard to lead 40-32. A successful PAT from Knotwell put Encampment ahead by 10 points, 42-32.

Burlington responded with a 6-point conversion following a 14-yard pass to close the gap, 42-38.

Gilbert scored another touchdown for Encampment, pushing the lead 48-38 and a successful PAT put the score at 50-38. Burlington responded with a 6-point conversion following a 40-yard pass and a touchdown following a 2-yard rush to tie the score, 50-50. Gilbert secured a 6-point conversion following a 6-yard pass from Knotwell to lead 56-50. The Huskies then scored a touchdown following an 8-yard rush to tie the score 56-56, pushing the match into overtime.

The overtime quarters were among the most hard-fought, with each team securing only one touchdown in the first two overtimes. In the first overtime, Knotwell ran for 10 yards to score a touchdown and put Encampment ahead 62-56. The Huskies responded with a touchdown following a 15-yard rush. In the second overtime, Burlington started the scoring with a touchdown after a 3-yard rush. Barkhurst secured a 6-point conversion for the Tigers following an 8-yard pass from Knotwell. The semifinal match went into triple-overtime with the score tied 68-68.

It was there the Huskies would secure the final touchdown of the game following a 10-yard rush to win 68-74 over Encampment.

Knotwell was the rushing leader with 201 yards against Burlington. He was also the passing leader with 145 yards. Gilbert was the receiving leader with 93 yards. Both graduate this year, falling just short of returning to Laramie for the first time since they were freshman.

“This year’s seniors have left a very positive impact on Encampment Football that the future teams will look to continue,” said Willford. “This is a group that came to practice and games to make each other better. This is also a very unselfish team that cares about the overall well-being of the team rather than individual stats.”

With their match against Burlington, the Tigers have helped set two new scoring records for football history in Wyoming. With a combined score of 142 points, this match has the third most combined points in a postseason game according to information from wyoming-football.com. The most was 153 points, set just last year during the semifinal match between Encampment and the Huskies. This match will also be only the 2nd ever match to have one into three overtimes in the postseason. The last game to have reached triple-overtime in the postseason was in 1976 when Laramie and Cody played for the AA Championship.

“We had a great season with a 7-2 record,” said Willford. “The team grew a lot this year and it has been a true honor to coach them.”

Willford, who has been the head coach for the Encampment Tigers since they first took the field in 2019, sees continued success for the program.

“We will be returning a lot of players with great football experience who are already hungry for next season.”