Baxter Tuggle ran for 217 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Laramie Plainsmen to a 50-0 victory over the Gillette Camels last Friday night at Deti Stadium.

Laramie (2-1) also got three touchdown runs and a TD pass from quarterback Jason Upton in their second consecutive shutout of the Camels.

Tuggle had TD runs of 41, 24 and 10 yards, respectively, on 25 carries in route to a career-high in yards rushing. He averaged 8.7 yards per rush and had eight runs of 10 yards or longer.

Plainsmen head coach Clint Reed said you saw Baxter running like you did in week one.

“He struggled a little bit (last week). We talked to him about, you were really running vertical in week one, and I saw it again tonight (Friday). Last week we kind of had you side-to-side, but he did it again this week.”

Tuggle capped the game’s first drive with a 41-yard TD run. After a missed extra point, Laramie led 6-0. Brady Epler blocked a punt, which put the Plainsmen at the Gillette eight-yard line. Upton ran it in from seven yards out for a 13-0 lead. After another Camel punt, LHS scored four plays later when Upton found Connor Killpack on a 19-yard TD pass late in the first quarter. That made it 20-0.

After an Upton interception, Tuggle scored ten seconds into the second quarter from 24-yards out for a 27-0 lead. Upton added an 18-yard touchdown run just over two minutes later. That was set-up by Ben Kruzich’s strip and fumble recovery. LHS added David Tangeman’s first career field goal from 36-yards out for a 37-0 halftime lead.

Tuggle scored on a 10-yard run in the third and Upton added a 13-yard TD run in the fourth for the final margin.

It was the first time that Laramie has invoked the running clock, mercy rule since it was instituted in Wyoming high school football.

The 2-1 start is also the first for LHS since 2007.

Reed added, “I’m really happy for the boys. I really am, and I’m happy for our fans and our school, and Laramie football nation here. It’s nice to win a game like this. It’s amazing to go back-to-back, win ‘em both at home, put ourselves in a 2-1 position.”

All wasn’t pleasing to Coach Reed, as he referenced mistakes with missed assignments and penalties.

The Plainsmen had 13 penalties for 108 yards in the game.

“First game we have four, second game we have somewhere around six, and it just doubled from there. That tells me something needs to be cleaned up.”

Laramie finished with 383 yards of total offense. They had 301 on the ground. The Plainsmen forced three turnovers and were plus-12 in time-of-possession. LHS also held the Camels to 63 yards of offense and four total first downs. Two of those came by penalty.

Next up, it’s back on the road for the Plainsmen. They head to Casper to face new No. 1 Natrona Friday at 7 p.m.

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