Wolves beat Lander for first conference win

This past week the Green River Wolves hit the road to take on 3A rival the Lander Tigers in their conference opener for the 2023 season.

The teams have a lot of similarities, including having new head coaches, both of whom have experience coaching 3A football. Lander's coach comes from coaching in Evanston, while Green River's Coach Blaine Christensen comes from Rock Springs. The teams also have similar numbers of players out for football, a good balance in the number of experienced and new players, and a similar number of big players, with both coaches indicating that their teams were pretty healthy and ready to play. Lander's coach also felt that they might have an advantage in that they have good size and athleticism in their offensive and defensive lines. Coach Christensen also felt the Wolves have good athletes on both lines and that they have good speed at the skill positions.

Both teams were coming off first game non-conference losses to perennial powerhouses, with Lander taking a 56-2 drubbing at the hands of 3A's number one ranked Cody and Green River falling in a close loss to always-tough Mountain View.

Lander kicked off to Green River, who started their first offensive series from the 10-yard line. Unlike in their first game, the Wolves were able to put together a long 15-play drive with some big plays by their speedy running back senior Jaxxson Gomez, who carried the ball seven times. But in the end the Wolves were stopped on a fourth-down incomplete pass.

Lander took over and had a seven-play drive of their own. They broke a big run and were heading for their end zone when Green River's senior defensive back Axel MacKinnon caught Lander's runner just before he was about to score. MacKinnon knocked the ball out of his hands and then recovered the fumble to save an early score by the Tigers.

On their first play of the next series, Gomez again made a big play with a 50-yard pass reception and run. But the Wolves once again were turned back by Lander's defense. However, after a short offensive series for Lander, the Wolves got the ball back and Gomez ran the ball in for the Wolves' first touchdown of the regular season and a 7-0 lead.

Lander's next drive had multiple penalties from both teams. Twelve plays later, the Tigers were able to score on a four-yard run to tie the score at 7-7 after the P.A.T kick. The score came despite some tough defense from Sophomore Declan Henderson, Junior Hunter Flores, and Seniors Alex Cooley, Garrett Smith, Christian Lee, and Adrian Ruiz. A short time later, Lander got the ball back and again took it in to take a 14-7 lead into halftime.

The halftime offensive statistics showed how close the game was as Lander had 163 yards in total offense while the Wolves had 161 yards.

Green River kicked to Lander to start the second half. The Tigers got an excellent return to the 42-yard line, but with excellent defense by Alex and Dakota Hudson, amongst others, Lander was at three plays and had to punt. The Wolves could not move the ball and got a short punt out of their own end zone. This gave Lander excellent field position to start their drive, but Lander's first offensive play was a pass intercepted by Axel Mackinnon, again saving the Wolves from terrible field position. The Wolves ran several plays but were again stopped by Lander and had to punt. The punt was recovered by Green River on a big Lander turnover. The Wolves again were stopped on their next offensive series and Lander took over, going into the 4th quarter with a 14-7 lead with things looking good for the home team.

The Wolves came up with another big defensive stand, however, and on Lander's punt attempt they snapped the ball out of the end zone. Green River scored a two-point safety to move the score to 14-9 with about eight minutes left in the game.

The two teams ran offensive series against each without any scoring until, with less than two minutes left in the game, Gomez took the ball in for a score. The Wolves led 15-14, but there was still time left on the clock for the home team.

Green River's coaching staff made a strategic decision to try a squib kick, which can be hard to field, and Lander was not able to come up with the ball. The Wolves recovered the fumble, and as time ran out the Wolves' new era under Coach Christensen started off with a big regular season first game win on the road, the first win over Lander since 2018.

The Wolves ended up with 243 yards in total offense to Landers 202 (not counting return yardage) with the Wolves having fewer penalties and turnovers in the closely-played contest. After the game, Coach Christensen commented on how he was very proud of his team, especially as they did not give up after half time but followed the message of effort, effort, effort and taking one play at a time.

Players of the game were Jaxxon Gomez with 129 yards rushing and a fine job in kicking duties, and Axel MacKinnon on defense, who made two big game saving plays. The Wolves will again be on the road this week as they take on the Rawlins Outlaws in Rawlins with a 7 p.m. starting time.