I have missed having someone on the Lovell bulldog football team. I feel like most of the seniors are kind of mine anyway since they have been playing with Mark for a long time. Spike was looking forward to this game all week. He felt like this was truly the State Championship game. What a game it was. I give full credit of this article to the Casper Star Tribune. I stayed at home and had a hard time listening to it on the radio because it was just too intense.
The Lovell girls volleyball team took state this year. Lovell has sure had it's share of State Championships lately. I like it.
BIG HORN -- Lovell quarterback Dylan Hultgren called “Fire!” and a blown play turned into the night's key moment.
The senior, who serves as the holder on kicks for the Bulldogs, recovered after an errant snap on an extra point attempt to throw a two-point conversion to Nathan Grant and cut Big Horn’s lead to six with 2 minutes, 8 seconds remaining in the first half.
That additional point was all that separated the two teams as Lovell earned a chance to defend its Wyoming State High School Class 2A title with a 29-28 victory against the Rams at Dow Memorial Field on Friday.
“We call ‘Fire!’ when there’s nothing there, and it was a bad snap but our guys executed well,” Hultgren said. “That ended up being the game for us, so it worked out well.”
Big Horn (9-1) appeared to be in control when Scott Passini broke to the outside and raced untouched down the sideline to put the Rams in front 28-15 on the second play of the second half.
“We knew we just had to get a couple of stops and get us back on the attack,” Lovell coach Doug Hazen said. “But at that point, thing weren’t good in my mind, I can tell you.”
After Big Horn stopped Lovell (9-1) on the ensuing possession, the Rams faced a fourth-and-1 at the Lovell 49. However, a delay of game penalty forced the Rams to punt, and Lovell took advantage.
Hultgren capped an 11-play, 74-yard drive with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Cody Savage on fourth down to make it a 28-22 game with 2:08 to play in the third quarter.
“We had our chances, but we didn’t capitalize,” Big Horn coach Michael McGuire said. “Lovell is a good football team, and we let them hang around when we had a couple chances to put them away. That came back to bite us.”
Lovell running back Dino Collins found the end zone from four yards out with 5:43 to play, and Savage’s extra point gave the Bulldogs their first and only lead at 29-28.
Collins, who came into the game leading the state with 1,383 rushing yards, finished with 108 yards on 26 carries. The senior scored two touchdowns and keyed a strong defensive effort by the Bulldogs in the final quarter.
Big Horn had two chances to win the game late, but quarterback Connor McCafferty fumbled the ball when he was hit by Lovell defensive lineman Jacob Beck. Then, with less than one minute to play and Big Horn at the Lovell 42, McCafferty’s pass was picked off by Hultgren.
“We turned the ball over six times all year coming into the game,” McGuire said, “and we turned it over four times [Friday]. It’s hard to win any game doing that, but it’s even tougher when you do it against a quality team.
“It was a great game, and we just ended up on the short end of the stick.”
The Rams scored on their first three possessions and led 21-7 midway through the second quarter on McCafferty’s 8-yard scoring pass to Lucas Wollenman.
But Big Horn failed to convert on a fake punt on their next possession and Lovell took advantage, with Hultgren finding Calin McArthur for a 25-yard TD. And then Hultgren gave the Bulldogs a boost with the successful two-point conversion.
“We’re going back to state,” Hultgren said. “And we want Lyman.”
Lovell will get the Eagles after Lyman advanced with a 32-6 victory against Newcastle on Friday. Lyman (10-0) handed Lovell its only loss this season with a 20-6 victory on Sept. 14. The Bulldogs and Eagles will play for the fourth time in two years when they meet in a rematch of last year’s state championship game, which Lovell won 21-13.
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