PhotoFest! Cheyenne East Edges Natrona in 4A Semi-Finals

In the regular season meeting between Cheyenne East and Natrona in 4A football, East took the game over in the first half and never looked back en route to a 45-7 win. In Saturday's 4a semi-final, it was a much different story as Natrona turned in a stout defensive effort. The Mustangs however had some difficulty on offense and lost 17-10.

Natrona did open the scoring on a 22-yard field goal from Rogan Potter to make it 3-0 but East came back with a 2nd quarter touchdown as quarterback Cam Hayes found Drew Jackson for 3 yards and a score to the Thunderbirds led 7-3 and that was the score at the halftime intermission.

East started the 2nd half with a scoring drive capped by a 1-yard run to the end zone from Hayes to bump the lead to 14-3. Liam Fox added a 34-yard field goal to extend the East lead to 17-3 but that was it in terms of points. The Thunderbirds came into the game averaging over 50 points per game.

Natrona finally found the end zone later in the 4th as quarterback Trig Berens lobbed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Dawson Clark to cut the gap to 17-10. That was the final points of the game for the Mustangs as East improved to 10-1 with a 17-10 decision.

It will be a rematch of last year's 4A championship game as Cheyenne East takes on Sheridan at 4 p.m. on Saturday at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie. Natrona concludes the season with a record of 7-4. The Mustangs have not missed the playoffs since 1991 with just 2 losing seasons in that time frame.

Be sure and take a look at some great photos of this game in Cheyenne from Shannon Dutcher. They can be located in our gallery below. Enjoy!