Torrington wins 2A state football title over Big Horn

Nov. 10—LARAMIE — Torrington won its fifth state championship in school history 28-26 with a win over Big Horn on Friday afternoon at War Memorial Stadium.

"I want to give all the credit I can to my O-line," Torrington quarterback Bryce Hager said. "They don't get enough credit. They make things possible every play out there. We also had Greysen Shields make a big 26-yard catch, and then Kaiden Riggs did what he always does out there."

Torrington's momentum from its previous matchup against the Rams carried over to this game. Big Horn beat Torrington 32-27 in September, but the Blazers dominated the fourth quarter and narrowly completed the comeback, according to Big Horn coach Kirk McLaughlin.

"They played their best," McLaughlin said. "We didn't. So, credit to them. Our guys never gave up and battled the whole game. I am so proud of them. It took a lot for us to get here, and they left it all out there."

Running lanes were open from the start of the game as Torrington out-rushed the reigning state champions during the first quarter 68 to minus-3. The Blazers finished the game with three rushing touchdowns.

"The first couple games of the year, we really struggled to run the ball," Torrington offensive coordinator Rob Nicoli said. "We wanted to find our identity, and that came in the second half of our first game against Big Horn.

"We had a (running) back step up, and we have a running quarterback. So, that's what our offense became, and getting that going opens up the pass game for us. We played our game from start to finish."

Torrington junior Kaiden Riggs ended an early game of cat-and-mouse by scoring the first points of the game on a 3-yard rush late in the first quarter. The Blazers controlled time-of-possession through the opening quarter, with Big Horn's longest drive taking 1:29 off the clock.

"From the last time we played them to now, we started to trust in each other and stay calm, taking the game play by play," Hager said. "It started from there and, as the game went on, we felt good and got more confident."

The biggest play of the first half came 10 seconds later, when Big Horn junior Avon Barney found senior Caleb Gibson over the top of the Blazers' defense for a 79-yard score.

The teams then traded sub-five-minute drives that resulted in touchdowns. Hager reached double-digit rush attempts as the Blazers went ahead 14-6.

For the Rams, Barney got his team into the red zone after completing a pass on fourth-and-7 to keep the drive alive before punching the ball in on the ground.

Big Horn's offense finally got into a rhythm using run-pass options. The Rams saw gains of 15 and 19 on the drive from senior Drew Heermann.

Disaster struck Big Horn before halftime as a muffed punt with 20 seconds remaining in the half was recovered by Torrington. The Blazers scored one play later and took the momentum into halftime.

"We told ourselves that the score at half didn't mean anything," Nicoli said. "Take the momentum they gave us and finish the job."

Coming out of the half, Big Horn was able to neutralize Torrington's momentum and held the Blazers scoreless. Unfortunately for the Rams, their offense went cold again. It wasn't until the final drive of the quarter that Big Horn started moving the ball, and it went into the fourth trailing.

Entering the fourth with a 21-19 score, both teams knew what they needed to do in order to win. Big Horn scored on the first play of the quarter before Torrington answered with a 13-play, 78-yard drive spanning eight minutes that resulted in a touchdown.

The running lanes that were there for the Blazers early started to appear again. Riggs finished the regular season as the third-leading rusher in 2A at 99 yards per game and showed why Torrington leans on him.

He scored the Blazers' final points of the game with 3:39 to play in the fourth. Big Horn didn't allow Torrington any time to breathe or celebrate, as Barney completed a 43-yard pass to Gavin Stafford on third-and-one to set the Rams up with first-and-goal.

"This group of seniors has been through a lot, and I'm proud they earned this," Nicoli said. "I was with these guys in middle school and coached them all the way up. I can't speak enough about the leadership our QB has shown from his freshman year to now.

"Our receivers are a tough, scrappy group all the way around. They deserve this. When we talked the other day, the message was 'don't remember the past and focus on the present.'"

Big Horn's onside kick attempt was recovered by Torrington, which all but sealed the game. The Rams burned through all three timeouts as Riggs and Hager picked up the yardage needed to keep the clock running.

Torrington was the better team from start to finish on Friday. The Blazers out-gained the Rams 352 yards to 287, while controlling the time-of-possession battle 32:59 to 15:01.

Torrington finished the day 4-of-4 on red-zone opportunities and scored off of the Rams' lone turnover. Mistakes Big Horn hasn't made a lot this season ended up being the difference.

"Our mistakes really hurt us," McLaughlin said. "They were able to capitalize on those. We stopped the run when we needed to, from time to time, but couldn't do it when we needed."

TORRINGTON 28, BIG HORN 26

Big Horn...... 6 6 0 14 — 26

Torrington...... 7 14 0 7 — 28

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

T: Riggs 3 run (Hackett kick good), 1:44.

BH: Gibson 79 pass from Barney (Brown kick blocked), 1:33.

Second Quarter

T: Hager 7 run (Hackett kick), 10:44.

BH: Barney 4 run (Barney pass failed), 4:33.

T: Riggs 11 pass from Hager (Hackett kick), 0:12.

Fourth Quarter

BH: Hernandez 4-yard run (Brown kick), 11:54.

T: Riggs 4-yard run (Hackett kick), 3:39.

BH: Hernandez 2-yard run (Brown kick), 2:38.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Big Horn: Hernandez 8-18, Barney 9-47, Heermann 3-17. Torrington: Riggs 25-136, Hager 22-80, Durrant 1-2, Greiman 1-2, Shields 1-0, Team 2-(minus-31).

Passing

Big Horn: Barney 12-26-0 210 Torrington: Hager 9-14-0 172

Receiving

Big Horn: Butler 3-29, Gibson 2-95, Drew Heermann 4-36, Walker 2-7, Stafford 1-43. Torrington: Riggs 4-80 , Greiman 2-22, Shields 1-26, Stull 2-44.

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.