After a gritty opening weekend victory over the Moorcroft Wolves, the Kemmerer Rangers were hoping to stack another win to their credit this past weekend as they traveled to face the Pinedale Wranglers to open 2A West play.

Unfortunately for the visitors, a poorly-executed second half broke open a game that was 14-8 at the half, into a lopsided 50-15 final. 

“The boys played a pretty good first half, we moved the ball decently well and stymied ourselves with a few penalties on drives, and we turned them over a bit, so we felt decent with a 14-8 score at the half,” replied head coach Bart Jernigan.

“Unfortunately, the third quarter unraveled on us rather quickly. We had some assignment errors on defense and did not tackle well. This led to a handful of long touchdown plays for [Pinedale]. Offensively we were not as crisp in the second half, and it felt like we were pressing to try to make one, single individual play alone to turn the game rather than focusing on just executing our individual jobs and playing as a team. Special teams were also shaky coming out of the half.”

It was the first time the Rangers had allowed 50 points in a game dating back to October of 2023 when they fell on the road to the Lovell Bulldogs, 50-0. The 2024 Rangers allowed 24.0 points per game including a 31-12 decision against the Wranglers last season.  

“Our lack of varsity experience and a struggle to get our adjustments right made it hard to settle things down before they could snowball on us there in the third [quarter],” Jernigan continued. “It’s the growing pains of playing so many young guys on a Friday night, but I know they’ll grow from it, and have faith that we will get better at stemming the tide when momentum starts to go the wrong way.”

The running game was well balanced for the Rangers with three players running for at least 50 yards. Bryson McGill led the way with 67 yards on nine carries and a score. Noah Parks finished with 62 yards on the ground on 18 attempts and Sam Thatcher also ran 18 times for a total of 55 yards and a touchdown. Thatcher also completed three passes out of 12 attempts for a total of 19 yards through the air.

It also reiterated that there are no easy games in the 2A West. Other results from this past Friday included #4 Cokeville blanking Lyman 22-0, #2 Mountain View getting past #3 Lovell 21-12 and Thermopolis taking a 14-10 decision over Worland. 

“All in all, the 2A West conference is the most competitive conference in Wyoming football,” Jernigan noted. “You cannot play as poorly as we did for a whole quarter and expect any different result.”

This week the Rangers will try and bounce back as they hit the road again for a trip to Thermopolis to face the Bobcats. Last year’s outcome was a 14-10 final for the Hot Springs County crew in Kemmerer.  

“Thermopolis is the real deal,” Jernigan added. “They aren’t getting the love that some other squads are right now, but if we want to be in the playoff hunt, they are a team we are going to have to beat out.”

Jernigan also pointed out that the Rangers will focus on what they can control this week.  

“Our focus this week has to be on us executing our fundamentals consistently rather than a fixation on the opponent,” he said. “When they make plays I’m looking forward to seeing us step up and answer within the scope of our schemes to create our own positive momentum. At the end of the day, it always comes down to blocking, tackling, and running, and if we show improvement in those areas, we can make some noise this week.”

Kickoff for this week’s game in Thermopolis is scheduled for 5 p.m. with audio coverage on The Spur in Kemmerer/Diamondville and southwest Wyoming as well as on the SVI News app.