PhotoFest: Pine Bluffs Survives Wright in 9-Man Football

Pine Bluffs is the #1 ranked team in 1A 9-Man football but the Hornets are in the process of re-tooling. That hasn't stopped them from 3 wins to start the season after a narrow 21-20 road win over Wright on Friday night.

Pine Bluffs took a 6-0 lead in the opening quarter thanks to a touchdown pass from Justin Lerwick to Shawn Shmidl that covered 45 yards. Wright answered back in the 2nd quarter on a pic-six from Jaxson Neely so just like that, the Panthers took the lead at 7-6. Later in the 2nd quarter, Pine Bluffs moved in front with a 4-yard run to the end zone from Jesus Solis. The two-point try was good so the Hornets led 14-7. Wright had an answer for that TD with one of their own as Neely found Mitchell Strohschein for 27 yards. The extra point was missed so the Panthers trailed 14-13 at the halftime intermission.

After a scoreless 3rd quarter, Wright took the lead on a one-yard TD run from Strohschein so it was 20-14 in favor of the Panthers. Pine Bluffs showed some resolve as they scored late in the game to pull it out as Lerwick found Mitchell Birkhofer for 15 yards and a touchdown. Abe Serrano made the extra point and that was huge as the Hornets hung on for that win 21-20.

Pine Bluffs is 3-0 and will host Moorcroft this week while Wright is 0-3 with two very close losses. They will travel to Lingle-Fort Laramie on Friday. We have some great pics to share with you from this exciting game in Wright, compliments of Ashley Jessen. You can view them in our gallery below. Enjoy!