LINGLE – The Lingle-Fort Laramie High School football team found itself in a back-and-forth battle throughout Friday’s 48-45 win over the Kaycee Buckaroos, but it was the Doggers who got the last laugh in the closing seconds on L-FL Senior Night.
The team swapped the lead three times in the final five minutes of the game.
“No one was really dominant throughout it,” coach Matt Cornelius said. “There were a lot of back and forth scores. It was pretty neat, and a fun game.”
With 4:28 left, the Doggers led 40-39, but two minutes later, Kaycee was back on top, 45-40.
On that drive, L-FL had the Buckaroos pinned on fourth down on two occasions. The first, Kaycee picked up the first down, and the second Kaycee scored with just under three minutes left in the game.
During Lingle’s final drive, Cornelius told quarterback Cooper Hill to call two plays, reminding them of what stops the clocks.
“If I want to call a timeout, I’ll call a timeout,” Cornelius said. “Other than that, let’s roll with it. It’s on you.”
The Doggers did just that.
Facing a 4th-and-4 with 48 seconds left in the game, senior Alex Pugsley cracked the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown.
“We’ve always have known Alex is a great runner, but to start the season, he was injured,” Cornelius said. “The way things worked out; he was a big factor running the ball for us. He ran really well.”
However, Kaycee was going to give it one more attempt, but the Dogger defense forced a turnover on downs, to secure the victory.
In the win, junior Cordell Forkner tallied five Dogger touchdowns, while Hill added one of his own.
“Cordell had a great game, offensively and defensively,” Cornelius said. “He really stepped up. He was tough to tackle. We gave him the ball right in the middle, and they had a tough time bringing him down. He also came up with some big tackles on the defensive side of the ball.”
The victory was also the first home win since Sept. 15, 2017, and it was the first win in program history over Kaycee.
The Doggers (3-3 overall and 3-2 in the 6-Man East) travel to Guernsey (2-4 and 2-3) on Friday for a 7 p.m. contest.
A win Friday would lock the Doggers into the playoffs.
