State Champs
The new state champs paraded the trophy around town on Big Piney fire engines.
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State Champions!
Big Piney Punchers 14, Mt. View Buffalos 10
by Clint Gilchrist & Dawn Ballou
November 6, 2004
The Big Piney Punchers became Wyoming State 3A Football Champions for 2004 with an improbable come from behind 65 yard drive capped by a 17 yard touchdown pass from Levi Greenwood to Seth Linn with only 9 seconds left on the clock. Not sure how Seth got open on the corner, but every fan on both sidelines saw him and held their breath waiting for that football to come down in what seemed like slow motion. On the previous play with only 26 seconds remaining in the game, Levi Greenwood appeared to be trapped behind the line on a roll out, but flicked a 13 yard pass just before stepping out of bounds to Brett Moffat, surrounded by 3 Buffalo defenders, on 4th down and 4 yards to go to keep the drive and game alive.
High school football does not get any better than the State Championship game between the Big Piney Punchers and the Mt. View Buffalos played on Saturday, November 6, 2004 at Big Piney. It was a hard fought game between two evenly matched teams that both played well until the final buzzer. In a game with only 4 scores, the lead changed hands 4 times, and neither team ever led by more than 4 points. The underdog Buffalos played well enough to win, but Big Piney made the big plays when they needed to.
In a defensive struggle, the first half ended tied at 0 to 0 with both teams missed field goals. The Buffalos blew a great chance to score with a first down inside the Puncher 10 yard line, but fumbled the ball to the Punchers with 2:14 left in the half. After gaining a couple first downs the Punchers gave the opportunity right back on a 4th down with a botched punt. With only 13 seconds on the clock and no time outs, the Buffalos were not able to score from inside the 5 yard line with only one play.
Both offenses made their mark in the 3rd quarter. The Buffalos drove the length on the field, but had to settle for a field goal with a little over 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter after false start penalty on 4th down on the 3 yard line. On the following possession Big Piney drove the length of the field. Ryan Cain scored on a 1 yard touchdown run with 2:49 left in the 3rd quarter to give Big Piney a 7 to 3 lead. On the following possession Mt. View drove down the field and scored a touchdown on a short run on the first play of the 4th quarter to take the lead 10 to 7.
The defenses took control of the game again in the 4th quarter. Neither team was able to muster much offense on each of their next two drives, but time was running out for the Punchers. They were able to get the ball back for the third time in the 4th quarter on their own 35 yard line with 2:26 to go in the game, but only had one time out, were down by 3 points, and had 65 yards to go. With a hurry up offensive combining running, passing and an interference penalty, they changed the defensive trend of the 4th quarter and moved the ball down the field, but still found themselves with 4th down and 4 yards to go near the 30 yard line with only 26 seconds left. There was only enough time for those two plays that will long be remembered by the Puncher faithful.
High school football does not get any better than this!
Story by Clint Gilchrist. Photos by Clint Gilchrist and Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online
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