Riverton vs Lander; a Fremont County classic

October 4, 2022

Gabe Harris wrapped up Riverton's Nathan Hutchison. {h/t Randy Tucker}

(Fremont County, WY) – After a delay pushed the game up to Monday, Riverton and Lander would meet again to finish in what would be an instant classic. Riverton entered the game Monday with a 7-0 lead with 2:36 left to go in the first quarter. No scoring happened in those final minutes of the quarter.

The second quarter saw Lander respond as they would start with the football and drive down the field and score to tie things up all at 7. The quarter scoring continued with the Wolverines taking nine plays 80 yards to score. The Wolverines would save their drive with 34 yard completion from Darrick Devries to Ty Sheets. The drive would cap off the drive with a 32 yards touchdown pass from Devries to Nathan Hutchison for the score.

Riverton would then attempt a pooch kickoff that set the Tigers in great field position. It would take three plays for Lander to score capped off with a 47 yard touchdown pass from Brenon Stauffenberg to Gabe Harris. Riverton would take another 80 yard drive to house for the third straight drive with a 3 yard touchdown run from Devries to give the Wolverines a 21-14 lead heading into the half.

The final score of regulation would happen on the first drive of the third quarter when the Tiger had a 10 yard touchdown pass from Stauffenberg to Harris. Riverton would start a 24 play drive from their own three yard line that would end up going into the fourth. The drive would take over 10 minute with the Wolverines knocking on door with just under four minutes left of play.

The Tigers would get one more chance to have a game winning drive after Riverton had a design quarterback run to the right side. Devries on the way down would fumbled the football with a recovery by Jack Pasquinelli at the goal line.

Lander would gain yardage little by little. The Wolverines however create the stops needed to have one more attempt for a win but they elected to send the game to overtime after one incomplete pass. It would be the second time in the long rivialry that the two teams would see each other in overtime according to Wyoming-football.com

Lander would win the coin toss and elect to defend first which meant the Wolverines would start with the football. They would only need two play though scoring a touchdown from two yards out by Hutchison to force the Tigers to score on the ensuing drive.

Lander’s Gabe Harris pushed off Riverton lineman Ryan Cox. {h/t Randy Tucker}

Lander would have their shot knowing what they would need to do in order to win, or send it to a second overtime. The Tigers would inch their way to the goal line even being stopped on a run play by the Riverton defense which set up a fourth and goal from the two yard line. Stauffenberg would connect with his fourth touchdown pass of the game running a play action to the right and finding Evan Stephenson for the score. The Tigers had a choice, send the game into a second OT or go for the win.

They would elect to go for the win.

The Tigers would set the football up on the left hash. Stauffenberg found Harris in the end-zone to win the game for Lander with the final score being 29-28. Lander improve to 3-2 overall with a 1-1 conference record. Riverton drops to 1-5 on the season with a 1-1 conference as well. Both teams will have a short rest with Lander hosting Rawlins at 6 p.m. this Friday while the Wolverines will have Senior Night at home against Douglas.