Green River pounds Worland 48-24

The Wolves entered Friday's contest with the Worland Warriors knowing they had to finish the season with a win to assure themselves a piece of the conference championship and they did so convincingly, outscoring the Warriors 42-0 by halftime and effectively putting the game away.

In their first series, senior returner Kalen Kester gave the Wolves good field position to start their drive with a 23-yard kickoff runback. The Wolves wasted no time as they ran nine plays, with several short runs and two long, 21-yard passes the first to junior, Devan Love and the second to junior, Dakota Wingard. The drive culminated in a 19-yard pass completion from junior quarterback Chance Hofer to junior wide receiver Cole White, with the PAT kick good the Wolves were up 7-0.

Worland got the ball and in their first offensive series the Wolves defense on the first play was led by Gabe Bunderman, who pushed his man back into the quarterback for a 4-yard loss followed by no gain on second down as Hunter Spartz, Blake Waite and William Harvey teamed up to make the stop and on their third effort Worland was stripped of the ball and fumbled with William Harvey making the recovery. The Wolves took over with a short field and four short runs later, Candon Croft took the ball in on a 3-yard run for the score and the Wolves were up 14-0 and the route was on.

Worland on their second offensive series went four plays and out. The Wolves high-powered offense again showed their dominance with Hofer throwing accurate passes all night and a number of receivers making excellent catches. Worland played the run tough throughout the game, but the Wolves passing attack was unstoppable, as they completed passes of 18 yards to Devan Love, 12 and 27 yards to Cole White, with a 4-yard run by Hofer to put the Wolves up 21-0 after the PAT kick was good again by Hofer.

Worland on their third offensive series fared no better as they tried their run game which was stopped on consecutive plays by junior Nick Boldt and then senior Jordan Tucker before an incomplete pass turned the ball back over to the Wolves again with the Warriors unable to mount any kind of offense against the Wolves swarming defense.

The Wolves then ran the ball for three short gains before completing a 20-yard pass to Love a 6 yard pass to Drew Wilson followed by a 17-yard pass for his second touchdown catch of the game to Cole White. The PAT kick was again good and the Wolves were up 28-0.

On the next series of downs, Green River stopped Worland again only to be intercepted on Green River's next series.

The defense of Green River came through in the next series as sophomore Chase Stoeger intercepted a Worland pass and the Wolves got the ball right back and quickly scored making it 35-0 with Drew Wilson talking it in from 4 yards out for his state-leading 13th touchdown of the season.

Green River's defense, this time led by Spartz and Kalivas, again stopped Worland and when the Wolves got the ball back they completed a screen pass to Croft that went for 25 yards before completing another pass to Devan Love for the final touchdown of the half with the Wolves finishing their dominating performance with a 42-0 halftime lead.

The crown was treated to a great halftime performance by the Wolves drill team and the school band on senior night.

Shortly after the second half began, Wolves coach Don Maggi turned the game over to Green River's backups.

Worland played hard and was able to score 24 second half points against Green River's reserves while Chance Hofer scored the only touchdown for Green River as he returned an on side kick 44 yards for the final Wolves score.

The overwhelming first half performance allowed Green River to get some varsity experience for its younger players, while at the same time getting some well-earned rest for the varsity players prior to the playoffs.

It was a very impressive performance by the varsity to end the season with a great 6-1 record.

Despite finishing in a three-way tie for first place in the 3A West Conference, Green River lost a coin flip and will have to play on the road as a three seed against the second seed from the East the Torrington Trailblazers whom Green River defeated earlier this season.