Cheyenne East Punches Ticket for 4A Title Game

Cheyenne East improved to 10-1 in the 4A football ranks and earned a spot in the state championship game with a 55-36 win over Natrona at a very chilly Okie Blanchard Stadium on Friday night. The Thunderbirds had a great first quarter as they put 21 points on the board. Cam Hayes threw three touchdown passes in the first stanza with the first one going to Drew Jackson for 34 yards, then a 7-yarder to Jackson, and then 13 yards to Dom Kaszas.

Wyatt Powell had 182 yards rushing in the game and put Natrona on the board with a 2-yard plunge to cut the gap to 21-7. Hayes responded with his 4th TD throw of the contest, this time going to Garet Schlabs for 17 yards and it was 28-7. Powell turned in his 2nd rushing touchdown of the quarter for NC but East got a fortuitous bounce off a fumble from Kaszas and it was recovered by Trevor Eldridge who took it 5 yards for a score so the T-Birds 35-14 at the halftime intermission.

Hayes started out the 2nd half with a 4-yard run to the end zone for East but Powell recorded his 3rd and 4th rushing touchdowns of the game, so it was 42-27 after 3 quarters of play. Natrona showed a lot of heart in the 4th quarter as their defense posted a safety and a 79-yard kick-off return for a touchdown from Mason Weickum. Just like that, the Mustangs were back in the game, trailing 42-36. The East defense answered that with a huge play as Brendan Bohlmann came up with a 35-yard interception return for a touchdown as East prevailed by 19.

Cheyenne East will play defending champion Sheridan on Saturday at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie. That will be a 4 pm kickoff and Sheridan defeated East during the regular season 42-39. We have some images to share from this 4A semi-final on Friday compliments of Libby Ngo and Angela Berry. They can be found in our gallery below. Enjoy!