Rock Springs Starts 4A Football Season Beating Cheyenne Central

Rock Springs has a new football coach in Kasey Koepplin and he'll try and lead the Tigers to their 10th straight appearance in the 4A playoffs. The Tigers are off to a good start as they defeated a pesky Cheyenne Central squad 23-16 on Friday night.

Rock Springs jumped on the board first thanks to a 14-yard run for a touchdown from Sam Thornhill. The 2-point try was good so the Tigers were up 8-0. Central got right back into the game in the 2nd quarter as quarterback Lane Clement tossed a 15-yard scoring pass to Tate Berry so the Tribe trailed 8-6 after one-quarter of play.

Rock Springs increased their lead in the 3rd quarter with Logan Condie throwing a touchdown pass to Boston James on a play that covered 30 yards. At this point, the Tigers led 15-6 with James adding a short TD run in the 4th quarter. RS converted another 2-point try to make it 23-6.

Cheyenne Central then mounted a furious rally with Clement throwing his 2nd touchdown pass of the game, this time to Nathan Benchley to cut the gap to 23-13. The Tribe recovered an on-sides kick and turned that into a field goal so just like that, Central was back in the game trailing 23-16.

The Rock Springs defense came up with a huge play in the final seconds with Andre Hilton intercepting a Clement pass to preserve the win.

The Tigers will host Natrona this week while Central will have their home opener on Friday hosting Campbell County. We have some sharp photos of Friday's game in Rock Springs, courtesy of Abby St. Maire. They're in the gallery below and enjoy!]