Patriots finish season with loss to Cokeville

The Upton-Sundance Patriots season came to a close this weekend as the Patriots fell to Cokeville 7-16.

In a rematch of last year’s semifinal game, the Patriots were hoping for a different outcome, but the Cokeville Panthers’ disciplined defense shut down the explosive Patriot offense by limiting their big gains to three to four yards at a time, forcing the Patriots to string together short gains with little momentum.

The Panthers were the first to strike as Nate Barnes found an opening for a 40-yard run. Cokeville then had a successful two-point conversion, making the score 8-0 with 8:26 left to go in the first quarter. The rest of the quarter saw both offenses struggle as the Patriot and Panther defense came to play, making life miserable on the offensive side.

The second quarter saw the Panthers on the board again as Matt Thomas caught an eight-yard pass from Barnes, but this time their two-point conversion failed, making the score 14-0 with 5:39 left in the half. Shortly thereafter, the Patriot offense came to life, moving the ball down the field, culminating the drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Brad Kruger to Jess Claycomb, putting the Patriots on the board with a score of 7-14. This would prove to be the final offensive points for both teams.

The second half continued to see the offenses struggle against the stellar defense from both sides. With the Patriots facing near certain defeat, the Panthers inexplicably heaved the ball deep, where Patriots’ Kye Taylor was waiting at the goal line for an interception and returned it 60 yards to the Panther 40-yard line. Unfortunately, there was a Patriot penalty and the ball was brought all the way back to the 10-yard line.

Facing a lot of field and not much time, the Patriots dropped back to pass and the Panthers were able to sack Kruger in the end zone for a safety, making the final score 16-7, and ending the Patriots drive to Laramie.

Even though the Patriots will not be playing on Saturday, they can take solace in the fact that the only two teams they lost to will once again be playing in the state championship game.

Stats from the game:

Rushing: J. Claycomb 11/53, J. Caylor 15/29, B. Kruger 3 / 4, R. Barritt 2/2

Passing: B. Kruger 12/21/96 (1 TD)

Receiving: J.Claycomb 3/34 (1TD), K. Taylor 4/27, B. Bruce 2/21, J. Caylor 2/6, R. Barrit 1/6

Defense:

W. Gillespie 18, K. Taylor 12 (1 INT), R. Barritt 11 (1 fumble recovery), J. Claycomb 11, C. Chandler 11, B. Bruce 10