Matthew Fabian
mfabian1@uwyo.edu
When seniors Eddie Yarbrough and D.J. May chased down Nevada quarterback Tyler Stewart late in the final quarter on fourth down, War Memorial Stadium – and much of the state – let out a scream of elation.
Finally, the Wyoming Cowboys won a game in the 2015 campaign, much less on Homecoming.
“It was really good effort by our players, they’ve been working really hard and making improvement (each week),” head football coach Craig Bohl said following the win. “We mounted a pretty strong lead.”
The Cowboys won, 28-21, over the Nevada Wolf Pack to earn their first overall, and conference, win of the season to move to 1-6.
The Wyoming defense, riddled with young players (and high talent according to Bohl), came out of the gate swiftly, allowing two punts on Nevada’s four possessions of the first half. The defense allowed one touchdown in the first half, a seven-yard touchdown run from Don Jackson with 6:10 remaining in the half.
The Wyoming offense, more importantly Cam Coffman, produced their best game of the season against the Wolf Pack and found themselves with a 21-7 lead going into the Rochelle Athletic Center at half.
“It’s a whole lot easier to play while we’re ahead,” Coffman said. “It puts pressure on their offense, and we get let our defense rest on the sidelines.”
The opening touchdown of the day came early in the second quarter on the arm of Coffman to junior tight end Jacob Hollister, on an 18-yard wheel route that resulted in Hollister hit sticking Nevada defender Ausani Rufus while on track for the endzone. The scoring play capped off an eight play, 65-yard drive that consumed 3:34 off the clock.
After a rebuttal drive from the Wolf Pack, the Cowboy offense had 6:10 remaining in the half to put together a scoring drive. In Wyoming’s play of the day, junior wide receiver Tanner Gentry caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Coffman to increase the Cowboy lead to 14-7 with just 1:30 left in the half.
Wyoming fans in War Memorial Stadium could not have anticipated the next sequence of events, the biggest 1:30 of the Wyoming season, and possibly Bohl’s time here in Laramie.
The Wyoming defense caused a three-and-out situation while only taking off :25 of the play clock. The Cowboy offense, fully equipped with three timeouts, had a chance to catapult the Cowboys into a two-score lead at half time. In four plays covering 47 yards, the Cowboy offense did just that after a 12-yard touchdown pass from Coffman to junior wide receiver Jake Maulhardt.
The Cowboy offense continued to produce coming out of the second half, only to be held scoreless for the remainder of the game, with an opening drive touchdown from a five-yard power run on the legs of freshman Kellen Overstreet.
“We knew Nevada had a good offense coming into today and they came charging back,” Bohl said.
The Wolf Pack delivered 14 unanswered points, the last of them coming with 6:36 left in the game, the Cowboys were teetering on the edge of securing their first win of the season. After a Wyoming punt with 1:36 remaining in the contest, it was time for the Wyoming defense to finish what it had brilliantly started.
“Whoever plays us is going to get us for the whole game,” May said. “With this team and coaching staff we have now, nobody is giving up the fight.”
After the clocks hit zero, Cowboy Joe rang throughout the stadium and everyone agreed on one thing about this team.
Finally, they’ve won a game.
