In a defensive slugfest, the Lyman Eagles edged the Lovell Bulldogs, 8-6, to win their second straight Class 2A Football State Championship game on Saturday in Laramie.

Lyman scored on its second drive of the game. That stood up, as they won their sixth state football crown in school history.

Eagles head coach Dale Anderson said to go back-to-back is awesome.

“It’s hard to describe right now. I’m kind of at a loss for words. What a phenomenal performance by our kids. I’m so happy with the way the kids stepped up on both sides of the ball. We challenged them to a few things, and we knew running the ball would be hard against them (Lovell), but our kids stepped up when they needed to and made plays when we needed to.”

The Eagles had a nine-play, 55-yard drive that resulted in a 9-yard TD run by Chevy Fackrell. A 2-point conversion run by Ashton Housekeeper proved to be the difference.

Anderson said, “A lot of the decisions on where to run the ball on that play goes to this guy (Housekeeper). He makes the hole call (decision on where to run) on that play, and we’ve trained him up, on seeing where to go and where to run. They did a great job of executing that.”

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Lovell didn’t get their first, first down until 5:49 left in the first half.

The first half ended at 8-0. Lyman had 129 yards, all on the ground, and Lovell had only 50 yards of offense at halftime.

The Bulldogs finally got something going on their second drive of the second half. A roughing the punter penalty kept a Lovell drive alive. Three plays later, Davin Crosby found Meyjl McArthur on a 32-yard pass to the Eagles 20-yard line. Five plays after that, Amos Monterde scored on a 3-yard touchdown run.

Lovell went for two to tie the game, and Monterde was stopped. It was 8-6, Lyman, with 11:11 left in the game.

Anderson said, “Our defensive coach did a great job of making a call for us. He had a variety of things we were trying to do, and luckily, we dialed up the right one at the right time and held them out of the end-zone.”

The Bulldogs had one possession after forcing a Lyman punt. After Lovell picked up a first down, they faced third down and ten. Alex Bradshaw picked off Crosby at the Lyman 43-yard line.

The Eagles picked up two first downs and ran out the clock for the victory.

Anderson added that they felt they could run against Bulldogs but knew it would be tough.

“Their defensive line, defensive front, is the best we’ve faced all year. They are phenomenal. We just told our kids early that we’ve got to come out and make a few plays, and then we’ll see. Luckily, that one drive worked out for us.”

Neither team had much offense.

Lyman had 202 yards of offense, with 196 on the ground. Quarterback Ashton Housekeeper led the way with 130 yards rushing. Fackrell added 52 yards on the ground. On defense, Rho Mecham had nine tackles for the Eagles.

Lovell finished with only 121 total yards on offense. Monterde ran for 63 yards. Crosby went 2-11 passing for 40 yards and one interception. Defensively, Preston Nichols had 15 tackles, which included two tackles for loss. Ben Nichols and Zane Collins added ten tackles apiece. Collins also had a sack.

Lyman capped an undefeated season at 12-0. Lovell finished at 9-2.

Just The Facts: Size Doesn't Matter For Wyoming's War Memorial Stadium

Did you know it would take the populations of Gillette (32,857), Laramie (32,381), Rock Springs (23,319), Sheridan (17,844) and Wright (1,200) to create a sellout inside Michigan's famed 107,601-seat Big House, the largest college football stadium in the nation?

For those of you not familiar with the Cowboy State, those are Wyoming's third through sixth most inhabited cities, along with the small mining town in Campbell County.

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