The Cougars rolled to 6-0 on the season with a blowout win over the Greybull Buffs in their Homecoming game at Pavillion Thursday Night. Wind River stands alone at the top of the West 1-A 9-Man conference with a perfect 5-0 record.
The win over Greybull is the sixth in a row by the Cougars over the Buffs dating back to 2006.
Wind River didn’t take long to find the end zone with junior running back Brayden Tatro ripping off a 42-yard run for the game’s first score just 2:55 after the opening kickoff. Joaquin Stevens caught the conversion pass from Cooper Frederick and the Cougars led 8-0.
Wind River’s offense is evolving this season with Frederick throwing more and running less. Scouts expected the Cougars to run exclusively behind Frederick, but head coach Rod Frederick has expanded his offensive sets with counters, jet sweeps, short passes, and multiple backs carrying the ball. It makes Wind River especially tough to defend with all their offensive variety.
That variety was on display with Chris Burk scoring the second touchdown late in the first period on a quarterback sneak that he took 39 yards for a score. Burk kept his balance on the initial defensive contact then ran over a Greybull linebacker before sprinting straight up the field for the score.
Stevens had his best offensive night of the season, scoring both Wind River touchdowns in the second period, the first came on a 37-yard jet sweep and the second on a nine-yard pass from Frederick.
Wind River led 28-0 at the half.
Greybull has size, good skill players, and good numbers but the Buffs haven’t been consistent this season, and they like to gamble.
Four times on fourth and long the Buffs ran a fake punt play. The first three were to the punter, and the fourth one to a blocking back. All four failed, and each one gave the Cougars a short field which they exploited for easy touchdowns.
A slow start in the third period ended on a Tatro breakaway of 32 yards, and the scoring floodgates opened again in the final period.
Frederick capped a long nine-play Wind River drive with a two-yard run at 10:14 of the final period to move the score close to the Mercy Rule standard, and a running clock.
The quick clock came two minutes later when Aidan Ruby took a pass from Burk for 35 yards and a 47-0 lead. The conversion, a Ruby run, moved the score to the final 49-0, and the clock began to roll unabated.
The game was a long one since Greybull threw incompletions for much of the game until the Mercy Rule ended the clock being stopped on each incomplete pass.
Wind River makes the short trek across Fremont County to play rival Shoshoni on Friday at 5 p.m.
WIND RIVER 14 14 7 14 – 49
GREYBULL 0 0 0 0 – 0
First Quarter
WR – Brayden Tatro 42-run (Joaquin Stevens from Cooper Frederick) 9:05
WR – Chris Burk 39-run (kick failed) 1:31
Second Quarter
WR – Stevens 37-run (run failed) 11:00
WR – Stevens 9-pass from Frederick (Frederick run) 2:26
Third Quarter
WR – Tatro 32-run (Kyzaia Jones kick) 1:46
Fourth Quarter
WR – Frederick 2-run (kick failed) 10:14
WR – Aidan Ruby 35-pass from Burk (Ruby run) 8:21