Big Horn And Tongue River Football Teams Prepare For Home Games Vs. Newcastle And Burns

After being on the road for two straight weeks, every Sheridan County High School Football team is back at home this week.

The Big Horn Rams endured a close shave the previous week at Torrington, but they didn’t have as many problems last week at Wheatland.

Coach Kirk McLaughlin says the team stepped up their performance and endured another long road trip.

“We felt like we weren’t very aggressive defensively from the Torrington game and we didn’t finish well in that game. They got the momentum going and we kind of got on our heels, but we turned that around and played it more aggressively the following week at Wheatland and was able to come out with a victory, so it’s tough to go on the road that far in back to back weeks and I’m proud of the boys and the way they handled that road trip.”

BH now gets to enjoy their last 3 games of the regular season within Sheridan County.

Up first is a 6pm home game vs. Newcastle.

McLaughlin says as far playoff hopes go, the Dogies’ are hanging on by a thread, which could make them desperate, dangerous and unpredictable.

“They’re going to come out hyped and they always play hard. It’s a team whether they’re a playoff contender or not, they’re always going to play hard and give you fits and they got some kids that can make plays, so they got tricks up their sleeve all the time. We’ve seen some on film already and know that they’ve probably got more up their sleeve, so we’ve got to be ready. We’ve just got to be disciplined this week and do what we’re supposed to be doing.”

Newcastle has the 4th best rushing attack in Class 2A, but BH counters with the 2nd best rush defense.

On the other side of Sheridan County, Tongue River got their wake-up call and was their own worst enemy in last week’s loss at Torrington.

Four turnovers and more than 110 yards in penalties were too much for the Eagles to overcome.

Coach Steve Hanson says up until last week, the Eagles have been dominating opponents on the scoreboard and the team got too comfortable.

“We haven’t had a close game leading up to the Torrington game. Our closest game was the 24-nothing victory. We had never been down at half. There were so many firsts for this team this season. We went through some similar things last season, but not this season. That’s life, that’s football and that’s ok. We can learn and grow.”

TR is at home for a 2pm game against Burns, who won their first game of the season last week.

Hanson says this is the type of opponent his team needs to recover and get ready for the stretch run.

“They give us the opportunity to kind of get back to some basics, limit the playbook in some spots to get our quarterback back on track a little bit, get away from the deep ball, get back to some things that we found success in, in the past. I think it’s a great opportunity for us to kind of heal, grow, learn, move on and get ready for Big Horn.”

Burns has the worst overall defense statistically in Class 2A and the 3rd worst overall offense.