Wolves end season with loss to Evanston

This past week during a Thursday night home game, the Green River Wolves hosted the Evanston Red Devils, knowing that if they could not only get the win but win by at least 12 points they could still get into the playoffs.

Head Coach Blaine Christensen expressed in his pre-game interview that he felt the Wolves had practiced hard and were ready to play but they needed the offense to get going early. The Wolves had 12 seniors playing their last game while Evanston had 18 seniors and many more juniors, giving them an advantage in upperclassman.

The Wolves received the opening kickoff, but Evanston's kick went out of bounds as they likely were trying to keep the ball away from Green Rivers' State-leading kick returner, senior Axel MacKinnon. The Wolves offense, needing a quick start, went three plays and out and got off a short punt, which gave Evanston a short field at the 39-yard line. Evanston drove the ball down the field, mostly keeping the ball on the ground with a quarterback keeper taking the ball into the end zone, creating a quick 7-0 lead for the Red Devils.

Evanston kick off to MacKinnon, who returned the ball to the 23-yard line, but the Wolves' offense was stopped in just three plays once more. On their second punt of the game, the ball was snapped into the end zone but was recovered by Punter Jaxxson Gomez, who was able to bring the ball out of the end zone to the nine-yard line. The Red Devils scored on a nine-yard run to up the score to 14-0 early in the first quarter.

The Wolves' offense took over and mounted a drive, but a fourth-down pass was incomplete and the Red Devils got the ball back. This time Green River came up with some strong defense and stopped Evanston. The Wolves offense then came up with a drive of their own, but it stalled when Evanston intercepted a Wolves' pass. Evanston relied on their strong running game, moving the ball methodically down the field, ending with a pass into the end zone and a 21-0 lead. The Wolves' defense came up with some big plays, including a quarterback sack by senior James Herwaldt and good pass defense by Dax Taylor. Evanston attempted a 39-yard field goal just before half time, but the kick was wide. The Red Devils kept their 21-0 lead, and with Green River having to win by at least 12 points due to the playoffs scenarios, the Red Devils effectively were in the driver's seat.

The first team to score in the second half was Evanston as they went to their leading ball carrier Roberts, who took it in on his third carry of the drive to up the score to 28-0. The Wolves got nowhere on their next possession, and Evanston scored again on theirs to up their lead to 34-0 after Green River blocked the point-after try. On the Wolves' next possession, Evanston again came up with an interception and scored on a short run to up the score to 41-0.

The Wolves got a big return by MacKinnon to the 45-yard line, followed by a big run by Gomez. Quarterback Hintz then took the ball in for the Wolves' first score of the game to make the score 41-6. The Wolves scored again on a play from Hintz to MacKinnon to close the score late in the game to 41-13. Evanston then scored on a short field goal to make it 44-13. The Wolves then came up with a trick play, the hook and ladder, which ended the scoring as Axel Mackinnon scored again to end the game at 44-20.

The crowd awarded Green River's seniors with a big hand. Despite not having a winning season, the seniors practiced and played hard every week to earn the respect of their fans and their coaches. Head Coach Blaine Christensen commented how proud he has been all season of the effort put out by his players.

The Coach went on to say that the staff is "extremely excited for what the future of Green River Football has to offer. Our Junior High teams had an excellent year and our young kids played a lot of meaningful varsity football."

Coach Christensen went on to exclaim: "We have a great staff and we will get this thing turned around."

He further stated that "the weight room will be the key in any success we have" and that "it was evident that we lack the strength to compete in the 3A West and the kids know they will have to live in the weight room this off season."