LHS football seeking improvement against Campbell County

Sep. 1—The Laramie High football team is seeking its first win of the season with a road matchup against Campbell County this weekend.

The Camels lost to 49-12 to Cheyenne East to open the season last weekend. Despite the loss, Campbell County currently boasts the No. 3 offense in Class 4A.

The Camels racked up 451 yards of offense and averaged 6.6 yards per play against East, with 206 of those yards coming on 27 rushing attempts from running back Trent Rosenau, according to WyoPreps.com.

The Plainsmen are coming off a tough 29-0 road loss to Natrona County. The score remained close into the second half, but the Mustangs were able to break away after a bad snap from LHS went through the back of the end zone for a safety and a big momentum swing.

LHS coach Paul Ronga expects the competition to remain stiff over the course of the season. He also expects his team to improve each game and get better as the season goes on.

"The programs in 4A are top-flight programs run by top-flight coaches with good athletes," Ronga told WyoSports on Thursday. "Campbell is right up there with the best of them. They're very good at what they do in all three facets of offense, defense and special teams.

"I'm impressed with their front, most notably their nose guard. He seems to be a potential impact player. They're fast, they hustle to the ball, and I have a lot of respect for their program."

The Camels had six different players catch a pass in week one, and four different players rush the ball. Starting quarterback Mason Drube attempted all 33 passes last week, completing 14 of them for 181 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Wide receiver Adam Gibson led the Camels with four catches, and Aidan Dorr led the team with 68 receiving yards. Seth Peterson had six rushing attempts and caught three passes.

"They're pretty much an evenly spread team," Ronga said. "We're looking at (Dorr), (Peterson) and (Gibson) on their team as good athletes that look very fast on film. So, you've got to really respect what they can do with the ball, and they've had success getting the ball downfield.

"We've keyed in on those three guys against Campbell. Not all of the time, but most of the time in their scheme, those are the guys the ball is going to go to."

Laramie's defense displayed a bend-but-don't-break attitude against Natrona County and only trailed by one score at halftime. The Plainsmen displayed physicality by forcing multiple tackles for loss, and junior Max Alexander had his first interception of the season against the Mustangs.

"(Better tackling) has been a mission since November of last year," Ronga said. "We looked at the film and broke down our season, and there were so many games with missed opportunities due to missed tackles.

"We put our entire script in place last week, and you saw a lot of what we want to manifest, and looked much better. That's all we can ask of the kids in our program, and they will continue to work on getting better."

For many of the Laramie starters, game one against Natrona County was their first career start. It was the first time that their offensive line had played together as a unit, and the Mustangs boasted the top rushing defense in each of the previous two seasons.

Laramie wants to be a running team, and Ronga knows the game against Natrona County was one of the toughest tests its offensive line would see.

"Some of them didn't see many reps or get much experience a year ago," Ronga said. "We're doing everything we can to work with them to help them progress and be able to assist us offensively.

"Most notable in the realm of execution, offense is about one thing and one thing only, and that is execution. Offense is very different from defense in the sense that, in offense, you're asking for a blended group of people to execute in harmony on every single play to get you moving forward."

Laramie did not play a clean game against Natrona County. The Plainsmen committed more penalties than they anticipated, but Ronga expects his team to improve its football IQ over the course of the season.

"We have to focus more on understanding your assignment," Ronga said. "Offensively, we think a little bit too much, and the kids start to question what their assignment is on a particular play.

"We're funneling that down to make it more specific for them. That should remove any doubt they might have, which could cause a false start, or a stagger or shaking in their stance."

Laramie's keys for success are simple. The Plainsmen must win on offense, defense and special teams to give themselves a chance at the end of games.

On special teams, LHS wants to snap the football cleanly and avoid big swings in momentum. Natrona County was able to capitalize on that in game one by building its lead with good field position.

Defensively, Ronga wants to see his players flying to the ball and being decisive. The Plainsmen defense wants to help the offense out by forcing stops and turnovers, and also winning the field position battle to give the offense a better chance to score.

Offensively, LHS wants to establish its identity early and avoid penalties. Against Campbell County, Ronga wants to see his team capitalize on any defensive mistakes made by the Camels.

"In the past, for example, we've had a kick blocked or something miss-executed, and we've seen our players get down on themselves," Ronga said. "But I think you saw the improvement against Natrona. We didn't give up. We held our ground, and we've had experience with this the past couple of seasons."

The Plainsmen will continue to lean on their captains for leadership, including senior linebacker Kyler Roberts, who had 4 1/2 tackles and two tackles for a loss against Natrona County.

"Kyler Roberts is a really good leader, and he's a kid who's lost two straight years," Ronga said. "He hasn't made it to this point in the season either year due to consecutive ACL injuries. Having him continue and finish his senior year the way he has earned and deserves is a big plus to our team."

Senior captain Porter Trabing is another key player who contributes in all three facets of the game. He led the team in rushing attempts last week, is the starting strong safety and also plays special teams.

"He's always in the right spot, and is a very supportive teammate," Ronga said. "He does everything we ask."

Junior Beau Wright is one of the strongest players on Laramie and the captain of the offensive line. Each week, Laramie gives out a player of the week award, and Wright was the first recipient this season.

"He really galvanizes those guys," Ronga said. "We're looking for him to rally the troops on the offensive line and get them rolling."

Junior captain Fisher Frude appeared briefly at quarterback last season against Cheyenne Central, but last week's game against Natrona County was his first career start.

"A lot was thrown at him," Ronga said. "He was 12-for-20, so over 50% completion, which isn't too bad."

Ronga feels the Plainsmen have the leaders to move the ship in the right direction. The biggest thing for Laramie is having a group that doesn't point fingers when a play doesn't go as planned.

"We feel good about our captains and how they're helping our players and pushing down messages from the coaches," Ronga said. "They are an extension of our coaches, and they're doing well with that responsibility."

Players will be dismissed from school at 10 a.m. to start the four-hour bus ride to Gillette on Friday. Laramie and Campbell County will kick off at 6 p.m. at Camel Stadium.

Austin Edmonds covers Laramie High, University of Wyoming and community athletics for WyoSports. He can be reached at aedmonds@wyosports.net. Follow him on X at @_austinedmonds.