A perfect first half helped the 2nd-ranked Gillette Camels defeat the Laramie Plainsmen 48-32 Friday night at Deti Stadium.

Gillette (7-1) scored a touchdown on all five of their drives in the first half. They led 34-14 at halftime. Even though Laramie out-scored the Camels in the second half, the comeback on senior night wasn’t enough.

Head coach Chuck Syverson said,

“(I’m) Pretty proud of our effort, especially the second half. We obviously still have some things we need to work on up front with our defense, but it was definitely a better effort than we had last week.”

Laramie (2-6) dropped their fourth straight game. The Plainsmen didn’t get a defensive stop until the opening drive of the second half. Nate Hill recovered a Camels fumble at the 14-yard line. It was one of two fumble recoveries by LHS. The other was by Tristan Eickbush.

It was 13-0 Gillette when LHS used a 33-yard flea-flicker pass from Andy Pearson to Tye Brown to get to the Camels nine-yard line. On the next play, Pearson connected with Hill on a 9-yard scoring pass.

Gillette scored again, but the Plainsmen got a huge boost when Pearson broke tackles at the line of scrimmage and raced 81 yards for a touchdown. That trimmed the lead to 20-14 with 8:21 left in the first half.

The Camels stopped the Laramie momentum with two more scores before the first half ended.

The Plainsmen made a push in the second half. After Gillette’s Roo Aten scored on a 1-yard run, Laramie’s capitalized on a Camel fumble with a Colton Wostenberg 42-yard field goal.

Aten scored again from 6-yards out early in the fourth for a 48-17 lead. Then, LHS got a 12-yard run t-d run from Pearson, a team safety and a 17-yard Taylor Dodd to Eickbush touchdown pass.

It was just not enough, as Gillette post their 12th straight win over the Plainsmen.

The Camels out-gained Laramie 517-to-296 in total offense. They also recorded five quarterback sacks.

Pearson led LHS, as he ran for 154 yards and the two scores. He also threw for 42 yards and a score.

Laramie now faces the same scenario as a year ago. They need a win or some help to reach the playoffs.

Syverson added, “We knew this a couple of weeks ago, that with our situation if we had won a couple in that mid-season, it would have made things a lot easier… I think with how we played this game against a good quality team, that’s just going to help us build up, and have a better week of practice, and hopefully go into that Kelly Walsh game with a lot of confidence.”

The regular season finale is in Casper at Kelly Walsh. Kick-off is at 7 p.m.

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