The end of the season, it came one game short of the goal for the Dubois Rams on a windy afternoon in Burlington Friday. The Rams fell to the Huskies 77-28 in Class 1-A 6-man semi-final.
The Rams end the season with a memorable 8-2 overall record, including a seven-game win streak that ironically featured a 60-52 win over those same Burlington Huskies just two weeks ago in Big Horn County.
The cards were stacked against the Rams from the opening kickoff when Burlington returned it for an 8-0 lead just 10 seconds into the game.
The Rams rallied to knot the score at eight, but it wasn’t meant to be. The Huskies reeled off 30 unanswered points before the Rams could score again, midway through the second quarter.
Turnovers and stalled drives stymied the Dubois offense all afternoon.
In the previous meeting two weeks ago, the two teams traded score for score until the Rams emerged with the eight-point win in the best shootout in 6-man football this season.
This time, the Huskies concentrated on talented junior running back Wyatt Trembly, forcing the Rams to run inside or vary their offense.
Trembly still garnered an impressive 222-yards rushing and tallied a pair of touchdowns on the ground and one through the air from senior quarterback Ryan Wells.
Trembly had an incredible season, setting a new single-season 6-man rushing record with 2,502 total yards in 10 games. He is currently ranked third in the entire nation in total yards among 6, 8, and 9-man football teams.
The Rams passed for 192-total yards, one of their best performances of the season, but tallied only one score in the process. Wells completed 11-of-25 attempts for 118-yards but was intercepted twice.
Trembly threw three short passes but they ended up with negative gains. Jonah Oard completed a 51-yard pass to Kaden Chamley for the longest connection of the afternoon and Clayton Rux was one-for-one for 27 yards.
Oard battled for 55 yards on the ground as well.
Trailing 50-16 at the half, the Rams were only able to close within 30 points at 58-28 before Burlington tallied a final three touchdowns to send the game into running clock mode with just a couple of minutes remaining via the mercy rule.
For the second season, the Rams came one game short of a trip to Laramie with a semi-final loss. In a school with as small an enrollment as Dubois, graduating five seniors presents a tough challenge for the following year, but the Rams have a good nucleus of young talent returning.
Wells, Navas, Chamley, Rux, and Gavin Clouse played their final game for head coach David Trembly, but Oard, Trembly, and Kaleb Gleim all return next season.
Burlington heads to the state title game next Saturday in a 10 a.m. championship tilt with defending state champion Little Snake River. The Rattlers were the only other team to beat the Rams this year in a close 44-28 game in the “High Country”
Dubois 8 8 6 6 – 28
Burlington 28 22 8 19 – 77
First Quarter
BUR – 72-kickoff return (Cohen Schlenker kick)
DUB – Wyatt Trembly 3-run (Nick Navas kick)
BUR – Seth Wardell 6-run (Schlenker kick)
BUR – Wardell 2-run (kick failed)
BUR – Joe Basset 17-pass from Wardell (kick failed)
Second Quarter
BUR – Noah McMackin 12-run (Schlenker kick)
DUB – Trembly 14-run (Navas kick)
BUR – McMackin 6-run (kick failed)
BUR – Wardell 11-run (Schlenker kick)
Third Quarter
BUR – Bassett 23-pass from Wardell (Schlenker kick)
DUB – Trembly 27-pass from Ryan Wells (kick failed)
Fourth Quarter
DUB – Kaden Chamley 9-run (kick failed)
BUR – Wardell 21-run (kick failed)
BUR – McMackin 15-run (Wardell run)
BUR – Wardell 19-run (kick failed)