ROCK SPRINGS – Looking to build on the emotion of the win over Evanston the Tigers welcomed the top team in the state, the Gillette Camels, into Tiger Stadium. Gillette soon showed why they control the top ranking and took a 47-7 win over the Tigers.
A Tiger fumble seemed to open up the floodgates for the Camel offense. Gillette took advantage of a 50-yard pass as they found the endzone in the first. The Camels were able to add a field goal to take a 10-point lead in the first quarter.
In the second quarter Rock Springs mishandled a punt giving Gillette great field position. Despite Darek Mattinson breaking through and making a tackle behind the line, the Camels completed a 28-yard pass on the next play for the second touchdown of the night.
Sean Willmore was able to break through the Gillette defense for a 13-yard run. Another Tiger turnover, this time an interception on the next play was turned into a 24-0 deficit. The Tiger’s offense looked for any momentum but a strong Gillette defense quickly stopped any drive. While on the other side, Rock Springs tried to stop the high-power Campbell County offense. With only a couple minutes left in the half, Gillette found the endzone again to take a 31-0 lead.
If Gillette has a weakness it is their pass defense and the Tigers attacked it at the end of the first. Koltin Legerski was able to find Nick Blume back to back to move into Gillette territory with a minute in the half.
A 15-yard pass interference moved the ball into the redzone. Rock Springs found the endzone when Legerski found Blume but an illegal procedure call took the points off the board. They lined up again on fourth down but were unable to find the endzone again, giving the ball back to Gillette with 15 seconds left in the break. The camels ran the remaining time out to take a big lead at the break.
The Tigers popped up the second half kick and recovered it to take over at the Gillette 35 but unfortunately could not take advantage, turning the ball over on downs. The defense came out strong and spirited for the Tigers and forced Gillette to punt right back. Mattinson was able to move it to midfield on the punt return. Again the Tigers were forced to punt right back.
After trading punts again, Gillette found the endzone on a 45-yard run to take a 38-0 lead.
As the third quarter was winding down, Cory Salitrik intercepted a Gillette pass to stop another Camel drive.
After the interception, Mattinson took the following handoff and was able to move the Tigers close to mid-field. He followed that with a 38-yard run to move into the redzone. The next play, Mattison caught the Legerski pass to finally break onto the scoreboard.
With five minutes in the game, the Camels were able to add to the score but it was only a field goal after Zack Tyler stuffed a run forcing a fourth down. The field goal increased the Gillette score 41-7.
Garrett McGaha and Kolter Kaumo were able to add positive yards but another turnover ended with Gillette in the endzone with a minute left to extend the lead to 47-7.
