Mustangs Run Past Laramie Plainsmen, 42-10

Brett Brenton ran for 170 yards and four touchdowns to lead the No. 2 Natrona County Mustangs past the Laramie Plainsmen 42-10 Friday night in Laramie.

Natrona (3-1) scored on four of its last five possessions in the first half for a 28-3 lead at the break. They followed that with TD’s on their first two possessions of the second half.

Laramie head coach Clint Reed said they knew what they were going to see with Natrona.

“I was very proud of the boys in the first half, but when some things got away from us, we just couldn’t recapture our composure there, and we let it get away from us. That’s on me. We’ll go back to the drawing board.”

Brenton had TD runs of 5, 26, 6 and 11 yards. Dante Wallace added a 49-yard TD run, and Jesse Harshman connected with Riley Shepperson on a 41-yard touchdown pass.

Reed said of Brenton, “He’s a good back, and we expected that (out of him).”

The Mustangs took advantage of short fields, as Brenton scored twice in the first quarter for a 14-0 lead. Laramie came back with an 11-play drive that was capped by Sean Dortey’s 31-yard field goal. That was as close as the Plainsmen got.

N-C capitalized on an interception with Brenton’s third TD run. A hail mary on the final play of the half was caught by Shepperson, despite a deflection, for a 28-3 halftime lead. Wallace and Brenton added rushing touchdowns in the third quarter, as the Natrona lead stretched to 42-3.

The Plainsmen finally got in the end zone with just under six minutes left on Nate Burman’s 24-yard TD pass to Baxter Tuggle.

The Mustangs piled up 427 yards offensively, which included 340 yards on the ground.

Laramie (1-3) was held to 284 yards on offense. LHS ran for 115 yards in the game. Burman went 12-26 passing for 169 yards with one TD and one interception. Tuggle added 14 carries for 64 yards rushing and three receptions for 56 yards and the one score.

Reed added, “I thought we were able to get some things done on the ground. We were trying to turn the edge a little bit, get out to the “C” gap. Nothing right up the middle, as they were blitzing some linebackers, and we had to work on some stuff there. At the same time, one play would work, and then we’d break down a little bit, so the consistency wasn’t there. We couldn’t maintain those drives.”

The Natrona victory marked their 12th straight in the series.

The game was delayed 77 minutes at the start because of lightning around Laramie Friday night. Kick-off finally came at 8:17 p.m.

The Plainsmen will face another long-time rival in their next game. They head to Cheyenne to face the Central Indians. Kick-off is at 7 p.m.