Cheyenne East Prevails Over Thunder Basin in Wild 4A Match-Up
In a game that featured pinball machine-type scoring, #1 Cheyenne East outgunned #3 Thunder Basin in a critical 4A match-up on Friday in Gillette. Sheridan transfer Dom Kaszas gave Cheyenne East a spark as he returned 2 punts for touchdowns to give the T-Birds a 14-0 lead. The first cone covered 50 yards while the 2nd one covered 80 yards. Thunder Basin responded with a TD of their own as quarterback Alonso Aguilar found Darius Felton for a score so the Bolts trailed 14-7.
In the 2nd quarter, East added a field goal and a 7-yard Td connection from Cam Hayes to Garrett Schlabs. Thunder Basin got a nifty run after the catch from Kayden Laframboise that covered 43 yards but East maintained a 24-14 lead at the intermission. Laframboise had 14 catches for 186 yards in the contest.
The 3rd quarter had plenty of offense as Thunder Basin found the end zone twice, Felton grabbed his 2nd TD catch of the game and Damon Foltz grabbed his 2nd interception of the game, this time he returned it for a touchdown. Cheyenne East responded with two TDs of their own in the 3rd stanza as Hayes ran it in from the 4 and then threw a touchdown pass to Schlabs so the east lead was still 10 at 38-28.
In the 4th quarter, Laframboise caught 2 more touchdowns for Thunder Basin but the Bolts could never get over the hump. Cam Hayes threw another TD pass and also tacked on another running the football.
Cheyenne East won this very long game 52-42 to get to 3-0 on the year. The Thunderbirds will be home on Friday to meet Laramie. Thunder Basin at 2-1 will host Cheyenne Central. Be sure and check out our video of the game as well as some top-notch photos from Brian Mitchell in our gallery!