By Sandy Anderberg
The Clarendon Broncos took down Gruver 34-32 last week and earned the right to the State Quarter-final game against Sunray on Friday, December 1, 2023, at Happy State Bank Stadium in Canyon at 7:00 p.m.
The Broncos gained the upper hand early in last week’s game, but the Greyhounds fought back to make it a close game.
The Broncos finished the game with 150 yards passing and 268 yards on the ground for 418 total yards. Quarterback Lyric Smith was 11/16 passing for 128 yards with two touchdowns. Smith posted two TDs rushing and grabbed a pass from Easton Frausto for a touchdown as well.
Frausto also had a good offensive game and was 4/20 receiving with one score for 46 total yards and threw the strike to Smith for six. Shane Hagood had seven carries for 18 yards to help the Broncos. Quay Brown had a 36-yard touchdown from Smith and Mason Sims had two catches for 25 yards.
With their early start, the Broncos were able to make a statement to the Greyhounds even though Gruver was able to get back into the ball game by half time and only trail by three points. Both teams scored twice each in the second half of play with Gruver converting an extra point to close the gap by one. A last-ditch attempt by the Greyhounds with three minutes to go ended in a fumble that was recovered by the Broncos to cap the win by two points.
“You gotta have some things go your way, and I think our preparation shows.” Head coach Aaron Wampler said. “Just the heart, the fight, and the grit of these guys, can’t say enough about their effort.”
Defensively, the Broncos were strong and quick to get to the Gruver quarterback. Jared Musick led the way with 13 tackles, one QB sack, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery, and Dalton Coles posted 12 tackles and a forced fumble and recovery as well.
Grant Haynes was busy with nine tackles, and Ranger Drenth and Jaxan McAnear helped with six tackles each. Waite Dushay grabbed a Gruver fumble and had two tackles on the night and Brown and Anthony Ceniceros had one tackle each.
Follow live updates from this Friday’s game at Facebook.com/TheEnterprise.
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