The Wolves traveled north to open the season against the Lander Tigers, taking the Tigers down 42-6.
The Wolves started on defense to begin the game, utilizing a combination of experienced veteran upperclassman and supported early by sophomores Isaacc Ungaro, Payton Tucker, and Taylor Jensen, among others. They led the Green River defense and held Lander to three downs on consecutive series, quickly establishing their defensive dominance.
Green River took over after stopping Lander and marched the ball down the field with runs by James King, Kyle Ivie, Candon Croft and pass completions from senior quarterback Chance Hofer to fellow seniors, Devan Love, Gavin Heiser and Cole White. The series ended with a 1-yard run for the first touchdown of the year by Hofer. Junior Eric Gwaltney, handling the kicking chores, made the first of his perfect six for six PATs for the day.
Lander then went three and out when junior Anthony Mitchell came up with the Wolves’ first interception of the season. Hofer wasted no time as he threw a touchdown pass on the next play to Heiser to extend Green River’s lead to 14 unanswered points to start the second quarter.
Lander took over and managed five plays before turning the ball back to Green River’s offense. On the first play, Hofer completed a pass to Croft, who ran for 41 yards. After several runs, pass completions and penalties the Wolves turned the ball back to Lander.
The next series for Lander was again dominated by outstanding defensive play by the Wolves, led by seniors Chase Andersen, Heiser, Justin Rubalcaba, Dakota Wingard and as the Wolves swarming defense did not allow Lander to move the ball and get into any sort offensive rhythm.
The Wolves got the ball back and after short runs by Croft and Hofer, Hofer broke free on a 56-yard run for his second touchdown of the game, making the score 21-0 Wolves.
Lander did have several big kick returns in the game, starting with a 56-yard return that was stopped by Gwaltney, but Green River’s defense after giving up a couple of gains, rose again when Chance Andersen came up with a sack on Lander’s quarterback, giving the Wolves the ball. Hofer completed a pass to Love, then followed up with a 69-yard screen pass and run by Croft with Gwaltney’s fourth PAT kick of the half, making it 28-0 Green River.
Green River’s defense stopped Lander again at the end of the first half.
Lander started the second half with the same results, attempting to use a quick offensive series that went nowhere for the Tigers. The Wolves took over and marched down the field with several good runs from Ivie, culminating in a 7-yard touchdown run from King, the first of his varsity career, to increase the Wolves’ dominating score to 35 points.
Afterward, the Wolves’ defense performed as they had all night, shutting down Lander’s offense. After a couple of good runs by Ivie and King, Hofer connected with Love once more for a big 44-yard scoring strike to end Green River’s scoring run on Lander with 42-0 after the PAT.
Green River subbed in their younger players for the remainder of the game, with Lander getting their only score of the night late in the game.
The Wolves will come back to Wolves Stadium Friday with their home opener against another Fremont County opponent, the Riverton Wolverines. The game starts at 7 p.m. and is the high school’s Hall of Fame Game. Inductees to the 2017 Hall of Fame will be honored during halftime.
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