Rocky Mt. Beats #1 Pine Bluffs in 1A 9 Man Semi-Finals

In what turned out to be a tremendous game. Rocky Mountain made the long road trip from Cowley and beat #1 Pine Bluffs 30-24 in the 1A 9 Man semi-finals on Friday. Pine Bluffs struck first  in the 2nd quarter on a 35-yard touchdown connection from Stu Lerwick to Ryan Fornstrom to give the Hornets a 7-0 lead

Rocky Mountain evened the game at 7 with a 1 yard TD plunge from Carsyn Weber and that's the way it stood at the halftime intermission.

It was a lively 2nd half, that's for sure with Pine Bluffs regaining the lead in the 3rd quarter with Lerwick finding Fornstrom for 25 yards and a score so at this point it was 14-7. Back came Rocky Mountain as Weber scored his 2nd touchdown of the game from 4 yards out. The Grizzlies went for 2 and made it so they were up 15-14. Late in the 3rd quarter, the Hornets got a 28-yard field goal from Emiliano Castillo so it was a 17-15 game.

To the 4th quarter and Pine Bluffs extended their lead to 24-15 with a 32 yard TD connection from Lerwick to Collin Jessen but that was the end of the Hornets scoring for the day.

Rocky Mountain answered that touchdown with one of their own as Will Loyning got into the end zone from 9 yards out so the Grizzlies were down 2 at 24-22. Down the stretch, Rocky Mountain faced a 4th down and 13 situations and converted thanks to a 19 yard run by Weber all the way down to the Pine Bluffs 9 yard line. Weber capped the drive with a touchdown and just like that it was 30-24. The Rocky defense forced a fumble on Pine Bluffs' last possession to preserve the win.

Weber carried the ball 26 times for 179 yards as the Grizzlies had 366 yards of offense. For Pine Bluffs, Lerwick threw for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns with Fornstrom grabbing 5 balls for 93 yards. The Hornets finish the season at 9-1 on the year. Rocky Mountain will face Shoshoni in the 1A 9 Man championship game on Saturday at 1 pm. Shoshoni handed Rocky its only loss this season 27-10.

We have a few photos from this exciting game in Pine Bluffs on Friday thanks to Ashley Jessen.

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