Josh Thatcher hands the ball off to Anthony Tibbetts in the Friday, Oct. 6, against the Tigers of Niobrara County High School. (COURTESY PHOTO / Barb Rapp)

The Rangers made the long, long drive to Lusk on Friday, Oct. 6, to take on the Tigers of Niobrara County High School. The Rangers fought hard to keep it a close game, but lost 22–12.

Juniors Anthony Tibbetts and Donny Proffit showed offensive power as they found holes in the Tiger defense and pushed through to earn some first downs for the Rangers. The Rangers also started well on defense to hold the Tigers off, and the first quarter ended 0–0.

The Rangers started out strong in the second quarter with a touchdown pass from quarterback Josh Thatcher to Hayden Walker to put the first numbers on the scoreboard with 11:18 to go in the half. The Rangers attempted a two-point conversion, but couldn’t quite get it, so the score was 6–0 with the Rangers in the lead.

The Tigers continued to fumble the ball, but Kemmerer’s offense also struggled, allowing quarterback Thatcher to be sacked a couple times.

The Tigers scored a touchdown with just under a minute left in the first half, but the Rangers stopped their two-point conversion, bringing the score to 6–6 going into the locker room at halftime.

Then Ranger fans saw the same second-half trend they’ve seen all season.

“We played out front for the majority of the first half. The defense did a good job of forcing them to move the ball down the field in small chunks, and in doing so, we really controlled most of the game in the first half,” said Rangers’ head coach Bart Jernigan. “But at the end of the day it is a matter of finishing games. We have to be little more disciplined in the coming weeks against some very good opponents. We did not get dominated in the second half by any means, but our goal is to dominate in the second half and we did not do that. The biggest thing we need to work on is stepping up and making the big plays in a close game like that.”

Another Tiger touchdown and a Ranger touchdown by Proffit brought the score to 14–12 with about a minute left in the game. The Rangers just needed to get the ball back and make some offensive moves to pull off the close game. But the Tigers would fire in another touchdown to bring the final score to 22–12 and win the game.

The Rangers not only lost the game, but lost junior Hayden Walker to a season-ending foot injury. Walker has been key for the Rangers on both sides of the ball, but Jernigan has confidence that the rest of his team will step up.

“Losing a player of Hayden's caliber is obviously a tough bit of luck. He provides a consistency and leadership that will not be replaced by one player alone,” Jernigan said. “We have a mantra on the team of ‘next man up.’ When someone goes down or is out, it is imperative that his teammates find a way to pick him up and fill his place. We have some capable young players that are going to have that opportunity to step to the plate this week and fill his positions. We will certainly miss having Hayden on the field (for) these coming two games, but I know that those stepping in his place will give everything they have.”

The Rangers play in Mountain View on Friday, Oct. 13 at 3:00 p.m. Mountain View boasts a 5–1 record this season.

“Mountain View is a really talented and well-coached team. I have a lot of respect for what Coach Walk has established over there. We are going to have to be somewhat creative in our approach to attacking them both offensively and defensively,” Jernigan said. “We will still stay within ourselves and our core competencies, but we are going to make every effort to frame our strengths in a manner that makes it most difficult for Mountain view. The biggest matter is going to be whether we can play 48 minutes with focus, discipline, and aggression. If we do that we will represent ourselves well and give ourselves a shot at getting the win.”