Turnovers Plague Plainsmen in Loss to Cheyenne East

Three turnovers in the second half proved too costly for the Laramie Plainsmen. Fifth-ranked Cheyenne East beat Laramie 35-13 Friday night at Deti Stadium.

Laramie (2-5) threw an interception on three straight possessions, and the Thunderbirds capitalized on two of them with touchdowns.

Head coach Chuck Syverson said the mistakes were huge.

“You have turnovers in any game, and they’re going to hurt you. When you have a better team, and you turn the ball over again, it’s just going to compound itself.”

East (4-3) quarterback Baylor Hayes tossed a pair of touchdown passes, ran in another and helped himself with two picks.

The Plainsmen closed within 14-13 on Taylor Dodd’s nine-yard t-d pass to Nate Burman, but they missed the extra point which would have tied it. That came with 7:33 left in the third quarter.

Two possessions later, Hayes ran it in from 21-yards out for a 21-13 lead.

Then disaster struck for Laramie, as Dodd was intercepted on the next two possessions.

Hayes’ first pick came with 1:31 left in the third. He returned it 20 yards to the Plainsmen three-yard line. Cheyenne East scored on the next play. Ethan Ashworth ran it in for a 28-13 edge.

Another interception of Dodd followed for the Thunderbirds, but that resulted in a missed field goal.

The next possession, Hayes snagged a pick off back-up q-b Nate Burman, who was in for Dodd after Taylor had lost his helmet the previous play. Ten plays later, Hayes found Stevie Lahnert for a 14-yard scoring pass.

East finished with 465 yards of offense. Hayes threw for 233 yards with two t-d’s and an interception. He also ran for 76 and a score. Ashworth added 95 yards rushing and two touchdowns. The T-Birds hurt themselves with 13 penalties for 159 yards.

Laramie was held to 263 total yards. Dodd threw for 188 yards with a pair of touchdowns, but also the two I-N-T’s. The Plainsmen were limited to 65 yards on the ground.

Syverson added that going in, “I was concerned about our running game against these guys, and rightly so, they really shut us down with the run, and made us one dimensional.”

East struck first on their second series. LHS responded right back with a 63-yard flea flicker, where Dodd found Conor Beeston behind the defense late in the first quarter. That gave Laramie their only lead of the game at 7-6. Midway through the second, East took the lead for good on an Ashworth 19-yard scamper down the right sideline. It was 14-7 at half.

Next up for the Plainsmen, they head on the road to face the top-ranked Camels in Gillette Friday night at 7 p.m.