Tongue River And Big Horn Football Teams Prepare For Burns And Newcastle

Last week TR found themselves in a rare position of trailing in a game last Friday at home against Torrington.

After the Trail Blazers returned a kickoff for a score to make it 13-7, the Eagles responded and scored the last 41 points of the game.

Coach Steve Hanson says the team was playing too soft early on, and when they gave up the kickoff return, that lit a fire inside the team and they responded.

“We can’t be passive, we got to be aggressive. That’s the nature of this team and that’s the nature of the ball they play and they play well, when they’re being aggressive, and we got punched a little bit giving up an early score. We haven’t played from behind very often and then we gave up a special teams play and we got that cleaned up and we talked about accepting a challenge in the second half of being urgent and playing with a fire, playing with a hunger and the second half told the tale of that.”

In the 2A East Standings, Tongue River and Big Horn are 4-0 and Burns is 1 game behind both of them and play both Sheridan County teams at home.

The Broncs have the #1 pass defense not just in Class 2A, but in all of 11-man football this season, giving up an average of about 37 yards per game.

Hanson says as far as Burns’ offense goes, the Eagles need to prepare for a little bit of everything.

“They show a couple of different things. They show some option looks because they got some athletes that they kind of want to isolate one on one with different people and they show a little bit of option and they’ve got a very deep threat capable wide receiver and they’ve got a very dangerous kind of running back slot receiver type, who is also a very good defensive player, so we expect they’re going to show a kind of variety of things. They’re going to show some option, they’re going to put their quarterback in space and let him run, they’re going to try some deep balls and they’re going to throw some short quick stuff to try to get the ball in the hands of their better players.”

Kickoff at Burns is scheduled for 6pm.

Meanwhile, the Rams got a bit more of a physical challenge than they anticipated last week against Wheatland, and although the scoreboard didn’t show it, it was a win none-the-less.

BH hasn’t had much experience in close games and in the 4th quarter since the loss to Lovell 1 month ago, but coach Kirk McLaughlin says the team does not look at the schedule each week and think they’re going to have an easy game.

“It’s not like we go into the game thinking we’re going to sit out and play the JV in the 4th quarter, so all of our preparations all week, we’re ready for a close game, we’re ready for anything, so I think the kids will be ready if we get into 4th quarter matchup where it’s going to be pretty tight. I think we’ll be ready.”

As for tonight’s game at Newcastle, the Dogies currently occupy the final playoff spot in the 2A East, and McLaughlin says the Rams expect to play an opponent that is fighting for their playoff lives.

“They’re going to give it everything they got. Last year they did the same thing and almost knocked us out of the playoffs. They’re always hyped for the game, so you can anticipate Newcastle is going to be ready and give us all they got. They run a lot of unconventional formations on offense. The McConkey kid, #30 is a good running back, he runs hard. He’ll give you everything he’s got. They got some solid skill guys, good sized offensive line. We got to be disciplined, do what we’re supposed to do and tackle well.”

Kickoff at Newcastle is scheduled for 6pm.