#2 Pine Bluffs Edges #1 Shoshoni in 9-Man Opener

It was a battle of #1 vs. #2 in the 1A 9-man ranks to start the season on Thursday as Shoshoni played host to Pine Bluffs, Shoshoni won the state title and Pine Bluffs made the final 4 and both of these teams have talent and experience.

Pine Bluffs opened the scoring with a 38-yard touchdown connection from Stu Leriwck to Collin Jessen to put the Hornets in front. Shoshoni answered with a 3-yard score for a touchdown by Pehton Truempler right after a long gallop down the field. The extra point was missed so the Wranglers trailed 7-6.

The Hornets responded with an 11-yard run for a score to put Pine Bluffs up 14-6 and tacked on another TD, this time from Dalton Schaefer on a 43-yard romp to the end zone to make it 21-6. Schaefer had 186 yards rushing for the day but left the game in the 4th quarter with an apparent shoulder/collarbone injury.

Shoshoni displayed some poise to get back into the contest as quarterback Alex Mills tossed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Cannon Campbell to cut the gap to 21-12. Schaefer then added a 41-yard run for a score to bump the lead to 28-12

Later in that 2nd half, Shoshoni rallied again as Truempler got in from the 7 so the Wranglers were down 10 at 28-18. Pine Bluffs responded again as Lerwick threw a 15-yard TD pass to James Langlois so at this point it was 34-18. Shoshoni got a late TD catch from Trey Fike but Pine Bluffs holds on for a 34-26 victory

Pine Bluffs will be on the road at Guernsey while Shoshoni will play this Thursday at home vs. Greybull. We have a video to share with you from the proceedings on Thursday in Fremont County as well as some photos, compliments of Bridgette Truempler. Enjoy!