JACKSON — In a wild, back-and-forth game that featured more than 700 yards of passing between the two teams, Green River came up just short in a 36–32 loss to Jackson on Friday night in Jackson Hole.
The Wolves (2–4) entered the matchup coming off a Homecoming win over Evanston, while the Broncs improved to 4–2 with the victory.
Green River opened the scoring late in the first quarter when senior Braxton Doak connected on a 22-yard field goal with 3:34 remaining to give the Wolves an early 3–0 lead. Jackson answered just seven seconds into the second quarter as quarterback Grant Johnson found Cooper Kintzler for a 7-yard touchdown, putting the Broncs ahead 7–3 with 11:53 left in the half.
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The Wolves faced adversity midway through the half when Doak, their starting kicker and one of their wide receivers, went down with an injury. Irie Kuball, a fellow soccer player for the Wolves, stepped in and made an immediate impact. Kuball hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Max Hintz and added the extra point to put Green River back in front 10–7.
With just 42 seconds left in the first half, Kuball struck again, catching an 18-yard touchdown from Hintz to give Green River a 17–7 lead at halftime.
Jackson came out firing in the second half. On their opening possession, the Broncs ran a reverse flea-flicker that resulted in a 34-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Tyson Kendall. A successful two-point conversion cut Green River’s lead to 17–15.
The teams traded scores until Jackson took its first lead since the second quarter with 2:48 left in the third, as Johnson connected with Thomas King on a 7-yard touchdown pass to make it 22–17.
Green River answered early in the fourth when Hintz powered in a 3-yard touchdown run to reclaim the lead. Hintz then threw to Evan Maser on the two-point conversion to push the Wolves ahead 25–22 with 9:21 to play.
The scoring frenzy continued. Just over a minute later, Johnson hit King for a 23-yard touchdown to give Jackson a 29–25 advantage. Green River wasted no time responding, as Hintz found Trevor Johnson for an 80-yard touchdown strike. The extra point was good, and the Wolves jumped back in front 32–29 with 7:09 left.
The lead changed hands again less than 20 seconds later when Johnson threw a screen to Kendall, who raced 62 yards for a Broncs touchdown to make it 36–32 with 6:52 remaining, marking four lead changes in just three minutes of game time.
Green River had chances late, but a costly turnover ended their comeback hopes as Jackson held on for the four-point win.
Hintz unofficially threw for over 400 yards, which approaches the top ten for single-game passing yards in Wyoming high school football history. Official stats will be available later this week. He had three passing touchdowns while adding 78 rushing yards and a score on 23 carries, according to play-by-play statistics from broadcaster Erick Pauley. Trevor Johnson rushed 12 times for 62 yards and caught three passes for 135 yards and a touchdown. Dax Taylor finished with 116 receiving yards on eight catches, while Irie Kuball added four receptions for 71 yards and two scores. Jackson unofficially threw for 320 yards, as the two teams combined for more than 700 passing yards.
Green River (2–4) will travel to Powell next week to face the winless Panthers.
Check out some photos from the game below.
