Casper Natrona County runs past Central

Second-ranked Natrona got five touchdowns of 24 or more yards in a 63-20 victory at Cheyenne Central.

“This was a strange game for us offensively,” Natrona coach Steve Harshman said. “Some of that was because of Central’s play, some of it was because of our play, and some of it was the penalties, which made the game really disjointed.”

The Mustangs (7-1) set the tone early when senior running back Brett Brenton took his first carry 96 yards for a touchdown.

The Indians (1-7) did a good job of forcing Natrona into long-yardage situations. However, the Mustangs often responded with long touchdowns.

Senior Jesse Harshman’s 55-yard touchdown pass to Ben Acres came on third-and-15 early in the second quarter.

Harshman’s 59-yard connection with Maeson Gallegos down the right sideline came on second-and-30.

Riley Shepperson’s 55-yard fake punt for a touchdown run came on fourth-and-28.

Central sacked Natrona’s signal-callers four times.

“We did a good job of getting pressure on the quarterback, but (Jesse Harshman) did a good job of finding little windows where our coverage broke down,” Indians coach Drew Severn said. “We got him moving out of the pocket and going where we wanted him, we just didn’t finish it out enough.”

The Mustangs led 29-0 before Central senior fullback Connor Lockhorn bulled in from 2 yards out in the second quarter.

The Indians’ final two scores came in the fourth quarter. Sophomore quarterback Dawson Macleary linked up with junior receiver Nico Vite for a 75-yard score. Macleary also found senior Niko Bostic from 3 yards out.

Macleary completed 14 of 22 passes for 236 yards. Vite caught five passes for 118, while Bostic added six receptions for 95 yards.

Natrona sacked Macleary nine times.

“Natrona brought a lot of heat up the middle, and we struggled with it,” Severn said. “Natrona really loaded the box and tried to stop the run. We tried spreading them out so we could run the ball a little bit.”

Indians senior Kanai James rushed for 100 yards on 18 carries.

The Mustangs rolled up 499 yards of total offense, 280 of them came from Brenton’s 14 carries.

Central hosts Cheyenne South (1-7) at 6 p.m. Friday. The winner will be the No. 8 seed for the Class 4A playoffs.

“We just talked about that,” Severn said. “We have to come ready to play.”

NATRONA 63, CENTRAL 20

Casper Natrona County…… 14 22 14 13 – 63

Cheyenne Central…............… 0 7 0 13 – 20

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

NC: Brenton 96 run (Shepperson kick), 9:23.

NC: Brenton 24 run (Shepperson kick), 3:53.

Second Quarter

NC: Acres 55 pass from Harshman (Shepperson kick), 10:40.

NC: Safety, 8:47.

NC: Gallegos 59 pass from Harshman (Shepperson kick failed), 3:30.

CC: Lockhorn 2 run (Vite kick), 1:52.

NC: Acres 13 pass from Harshman (Shepperson kick), 1:12.

Third Quarter

NC: C. True 1 pass from Harshman (Shepperson kick), 10:28.

NC: Shepperson 55 run (Shepperson kick), 3:44.

Fourth Quarter

CC: Vite 75 pass from Macleary (Vite kick failed), 11:47.

NC: Vroman 15 interception return (Shepperson kick), 6:18.

CC: Bostic 3 pass from Macleary (Vite kick), 5:02.

NC: George 7 run (Shepperson kick failed), 3:46.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Casper Natrona County: Harshman 6-(minus-31), Brenton 14-280, Wallace 10-4, Shepperson 1-55, George 3-(minus-3). Cheyenne Central: Lockhorn 6-56, James 18-100, Macleary 10-(minus-56), Gallon 7-6, Boltz 3-30, Team 1-(minus-10).

Passing

Casper Natrona County: Harshman 7-12-0 169, George 1-1-0 25. Cheyenne Central: Macleary 14-22-2 236, Dilly 0-1-1 0.

Receiving

Casper Natrona County: Brenton 1-14, Acres 3-88, Gallegos 1-59, True 1-1, Moncur 1-7, Bertagnole 1-25. Cheyenne Central: Lockhorn 1-8, Vite 5-118, Bostic 6-95, Boltz 1-4, James 1-11.