Star Valley picked up a 52-35 win to move to (7-0)

In a battle between 3A’s two two programs in the last decade, the performance did not fail to entertain. After a track meet of a first half where the Braves fell behind by 14 points on more three occasions, the second half was dominated by the Star Valley run game in a 52-35 win. 

With an enormous Homecoming crowd in attendance, the Braves had to overcome a tough start after the Cody Broncs struck on a long touchdown pass to Trey Smith from 58 yards out. Star Valley mishandled the ensuing kickoff and it was recovered by the Broncs who scored again to lead 14-0. 

Things continued to spiral downhill as the running game lost a fumble which was recovered by Cody to set them up on another short field and in line to extend their lead. However, Bryson Nield picked off Maddax Ball in the end zone which was a catalyst for a team needing momentum. The Braves answered with a scoring drive capped by a 35-yard touchdown pass from Smith McClure to Cooper Lancaster who weaved his way through the defense for the score. 

Cody’s offense picked up where they left off as they picked up yardage in chunks including a 41-yard reception to Chase Hatch. Ball punched in the score and the Broncs rebuilt their cushion 21-7. 

Star Valley again answered with a scoring drive which ended with a short run from McClure to cut the lead to 21-14. 

At the end of the first quarter, the teams had combined for 35 points and five turnovers. The Broncs capitalized on an interception of McClure by bombing their way down the field with a 51-yard reception to Smith. Ball finished things off with a dazzling run to the pylon and a 28-14 Cody lead. 

The big plays kept coming as McClure hit Bryson Nield on a one-play 65-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 28-21. The Broncs scored their final touchdown of the game on a 17-yard sprint from Ball for a 35-21 lead with 3:46 remaining in the second quarter. 

The Braves took the ball 95 yards in just over two minutes to make the score 35-28 on a McClure touchdown. 

After stopping the Broncs in the final minute of the first half, Star Valley received the third-quarter kickoff with Lancaster taking the ball 99 yards for what appeared to be the tying score. However, a two-point conversion attempt went awry for a 35-34 Cody lead. 

While the first half was full of Cody aireal fireworks, the second half proved to be a shutout by the Star Valley defense and a power running attack that would have made even the most ardent old-school alumni happy. Grant Thomson rumbled his way for a touchdown from 61-yards out to give the Brave their first lead and a two-point conversion made the score 42-35.

The Broncs did not have an answer for the Star Valley running game which used up clock while eating up yardage on another scoring drive finished off by Thomson again. 

The game’s final points came on a 30-yard Kristoff Buehler field goal and 31 unanswered points for the Homecoming win. 

At the end of the day, the two teams combined for over 1,000 offensive yards and over 1,250 total yards. The 87 combined points was the most scored in a game between the two teams in the series, surpassing the 73 total points in a 40-33 Star Valley win in 1973. 

McClure finished with 259 passing yards and a pair of passing touchdowns to go with 47 yards on the ground and a pair of of rushing scores. Nield finished with 156 yards on five catches and Thomson had 209 total yards and two touchdowns. 

Maddax Ball finished with 320 yards passing with Trey Smith hauling in ten catches for 163 yards. Chase Hatch had eight receptions for 97 yards. Ball also finished with 55 yards rushing and a trio of rushing touchdowns. 

The win was also Star Valley’s 16th in a row as they moved to 7-0 on the season. The Braves play in Evanston next week in their final road game of the regular season before returning home to face the Green River Wolves. 

• Around the West (Scores provided by wyopreps.com 

The Red Devils picked up a 20-7 win in Jackson while Powell pulled away for a 57-17 final over Green River. 

In the 2A classification, top-ranked Mountain View rolled over Worland 35-5 while Thermopolis knocked off Lyman 27-20 in overtime. Finally, the Cokeville Panthers spoiled Kemmerer’s Homecoming in a hard-fought 20-16 finish.