Green River Star -

After two home games in the friendly confines of Wolves Stadium, the Wolves took the long trip down I-80 to take on the undefeated and always tough Torrington Trailblazers. It would be a rough contest for the Wolves, who left the field with a 31-9 loss.

Torrington kicked to Green River and after a 16-yard return by Anthony Johnson from the 3-yard line the Wolves went on offense. Quarterback Dallan Serrano started of with an 8-yard run, followed by a run for no gain, but with third down and short Torrington’s always strong defense rose up and stopped the Wolves and Green River had to punt.

Serrano punted the ball 33 yards and after a short pass completion and run defense by the Wolves, holding Torrington’s heralded running back Bryan Lemmon to just 2 yards, the Trailblazers went to Lemmon again, who tallied an explosive 54 yard gain, giving them the first touchdown of the game and the Wolves a 7-point deficit.

Torrington kicked to the Wolves’ Anthony Johnson, who had a good day on special teams. On first down, Serrano’s pass was incomplete to Johnson.

A second down pass was incomplete as well and Serrano was stopped on third down. Serrano then got of a short 23-yard punt and Torrington’s offense took over once more. On first down, senior Erik Gwaltney stopped Torrington for a 1-yard gain. Lemmon then broke off two solid runs before the Wolves were whistled for being off sides. A 9-yard pass completion and Torrington handed the ball to Bryan Lemmon’s younger brother Jared, who took the ball in from 1 yard out and boosted the Trailblazers’ lead to 14-0.

The Wolves started their third drive from the 20-yard line. Sophomore James King started it of with a 6-yard run followed by a loss of one by Serrano as Torrington’s defensive line was exerting pressure on almost every play. Serrano then connected with King on a short 3-yard pass completion, but the Wolves were held to their third three and out.

Things just got worse on the next series. Serrano fielded a high snap from his center and was fortunate to get the ball away, but it only went 5 yards and Torrington had excellent field position on their own 33-yard line.

The Wolves fought hard, forcing Torrington to punt. The Wolves once again started a drive on their own 20-yard line. An errant pitch on first down resulted in a 7-yard loss. Serrano then dropped back and threw a long pass to sophomore Seth White, but it was incomplete. Torrington’s line busted through on the next play and sacked Serrano for a 9-yard loss.

Serrano got off a good 39-yard punt and when it was touched by a Torrington player Green River got the ball on the turnover. The Wolves first play ended in a 9-yard loss before King got off runs of 5 and 3 yards. The Wolves were forced to punt again, with Serrano kicking for 42 yards with no return.

A hard fought series of plays then resulted in the Trailblazers extending its commanding lead to 21 points.

The kickoff went into the end zone once more with the Wolves starting their next offensive series on the 20-yard line.

The first run play gained nothing before Serrano connected with White for two straight completions, the first for 11 yards and Green River’s first, first down of the game half way through the second quarter.

The second was a short pass of 5 yards. The Wolves were backed up on a 5-yard encroachment penalty when Serrano’s pass to Johnson sailed over his head. King ran hard and broke a couple tackles on a 4-yard run, but on the next play Torrington’s defense held the Wolves to a loss of 1 yard.

When Green River was called for holding, Torrington declined the penalty and the Wolves were forced to punt. The punt was shanked off the side of the kicker’s foot and went just 25 yards.

On Torrington’s next series, the Wolves defense bent in, giving up two first downs but eventually a big stop for a loss of 8 by Gawaltney gave the ball back to the Wolves with their best position to start a drive on their own 45-yard line.

The trailblazers got 227 yards in total offense in the first half, mostly from some great running by Lemmon. The yardage was also the result some excellent quarterback play, while the Wolves’ offense was held to only 46 total yards offense.

Despite being down 28 points the Wolves came out in the second half and played much better and outscored Torrington.

The Wolves would score nine points during the half, while Torrington would earn another field goal to end with a game-winning 31-9 score.

The Wolves were without their All-Conference performer Anthony Mitchell who was injured in the previous game and will be out of action for the next four weeks.

After the game head coach Marty Wrage commented that “poor tackling in the first half cost us,” and that offensively they got off to a slow start. Wrage was pleased as he noted the Wolves really played well in the second half on both offense and defense.

The coach observed that they continue to see improvement in all aspects and we will need to have a good week getting ready for Star Valley.

Another positive the coach noted was that they played a lot of players and are continuing to develop depth.

Green River travels to Star Valley Friday for their conference opener against the always tough Star Valley Braves.