Central clinches playoff berth with blowout win over Laramie
Oct. 23—CHEYENNE — With a trip to the playoffs on the line, Cheyenne Central and Laramie kept it close for about a quarter.
But a few big plays for Central was all it took to turn a competitive contest into a blowout.
The Indians scored five touchdowns of 20 yards or more as they rolled to a 58-13 victory Friday night at Riske Field. With the win, they secured the eighth and final Class 4A playoff spot, and will take on No. 1 seed Sheridan (8-1) next week in the first round.
"These wins have been really hard to come by this year, and this group has worked hard," Central coach Mike Apodaca said. "I've never questioned their effort. Tonight, we got another good effort, and they finished. I'm really just proud they got to experience a win on their home field.
"We were loser out, and really, I didn't know. I hoped we'd bring a complete game, and I thought we were about as close as we got outside of some special teams blunders."
The Indians (2-7) scored 16 consecutive points in a span of three minutes to break up a scoreless tie, starting with a 21-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Keagan Bartlett with 1:43 left in the first quarter. They also scored off an intentional grounding call that resulted in a safety, and a 14-yard completion from Bartlett to junior Jackson Whitworth.
Laramie (1-8) appeared to climb back into the game, at least momentarily. Sophomore quarterback Ben Malone found junior Mason Branch for a four-yard touchdown catch with 7:25 left in the second quarter, capping a 10-play, 44-yard scoring drive that cut the deficit to nine points.
On the very next play from scrimmage, however, Bartlett started to put the game on ice.
The speedy signal-caller broke through the line of scrimmage and ran away from the Laramie defense for an 83-yard touchdown, stretching the Indians' lead to 23-7. On the first play of the ensuing drive, senior Xander Jarosh took an interception 40 yards to the house to put the Plainsmen in a 23-point hole.
From this point on, Central's victory was never in doubt. Those two scores, which occurred in a span of 20 seconds, marked the first of 35 unanswered points for the Indians.
"Right when I caught that ball, I looked up and saw all my boys out there blocking," Jarosh said. "I saw a lane to run through, and when I got in the end zone, I just thought, 'Man, this is going to be a fun night.'
"I felt good energy from the team the whole night, and right when that happened, I was like, 'There we go, we're going to get a W.'"
Laramie found its way into Central territory on several occasions, but only capitalized twice — on the connection from Malone to Branch early in the second quarter, and on a two-yard run by Malone with the game out of reach in the final minutes.
As they have been all season, the Plainsmen were hindered by injuries. They called up five junior-varsity players to bring their roster size to 25 this week, and had several more guys go down throughout the course of the game.
While these injury setbacks played a key role in the Plainsmen missing the playoffs for the second time in three seasons, they did offer an opportunity for underclassmen — particularly Malone — to gain valuable varsity experience.
"It's as bright as bright can be," first-year Laramie coach Paul Ronga said of his team's future. "We're very pleased to have (Malone), and he also presents something this program needs to value. That's hard-nosed work ethic, coming to every practice, coming ahead of time, working after time, being a leader, and taking hits and getting back up.
"We have guys that were able to do that this year, but we need more of them. That's how the program can develop and build in the future."
Bartlett led a 486-yard offensive explosion by Central, rushing for 177 yards and three touchdowns on 11 carries. He also completed 6 of 12 passes for 98 yards and three touchdowns, with the Indians not committing a turnover all game.
Jaxon Lobatos racked up 106 all-purpose yards, while Mason Counter had 71 yards and a touchdown on six carries. Whitworth finished with two touchdown catches for Central, with Ethan Reisdorfer providing the team's other score on a one-handed, 24-yard touchdown catch.
The Indians were equally dominant defensively, recording eight sacks and forcing four turnovers.
"It's great for confidence, but the biggest thing is it shows we can execute," Bartlett said. "If you can execute against teams like this, you can execute against anybody. I think execution isn't really what they do to you, it's what you do yourself."
The road for Central will get tougher next week, with a showdown looming against the top team in the state.
As Jarosh noted after the game, though, the Indians aren't ready to go home just yet.
"We knew it was win or go home," he said. "This group of guys really loves each other, and we don't want to go home yet ... We just started the playoffs a week early, and next week is the same exact thing. Same mindset."
CENTRAL 58, LARAMIE 13
Laramie...... 0 7 0 6 — 13
Cheyenne Central...... 9 28 7 14 — 58
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
CC: K. Bartlett 21 run (Pedersen kick), 1:43
CC: Safety (intentional grounding), :44
Second Quarter
CC: Whitworth 14 pass from K. Bartlett (Pedersen kick), 11:02
L: Branch 4 pass from Malone (Luckie kick), 7:25
CC: K. Bartlett 83 run (Pedersen kick), 7:05
CC: Jarosh 40 interception (Pedersen kick), 6:45
CC: Reisdorfer 24 pass from K. Bartlett (Pedersen kick), 4:01
Third Quarter
CC: K. Bartlett 5 run (Pedersen kick), 7:37
Fourth Quarter
CC: Whitworth 13 pass from K. Bartlett (Pedersen kick), 11:02
L: Malone 2 run (2-point conversion failed) 8:19
CC: Counter 34 run (Pedersen kick), 3:24
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Laramie: Perkins 6-51, Devine 6-15, Malone 18-(minus-7). Cheyenne Central: K. Bartlett 11-177, Counter 6-71, J. Lobatos 8-60, Floyd 1-4, Talich 1-(minus-2).
Passing
Laramie: Malone 13-33-2 103. Cheyenne Central: K. Bartlett 6-12-0 98.
Receiving
Laramie: Branch 3-51, Devine 6-30, Calderon 4-22, Gray 1-19. Cheyenne Central: J. Lobatos 3-46, Whitworth 2-28, Reisdorfer 1-24, Henry 1-8.
Josh Criswell covers the University of Wyoming for WyoSports. He can be reached at jcriswell@wyosports.net or 307-755-3325. Follow him on Twitter at @criswell_sports.
