The Evanston High School football team’s bid to spoil Riverton’s Homecoming on Friday night came up just short in a 17-13 loss, though it wasn’t from lack of effort.

“Two evenly-matched teams,” said EHS head coach Steve Moore. “The second quarter for us — we possessed the ball for most of the quarter, then that flipped for the third quarter — they possessed the ball for most of it, we didn’t get the ball much. The fourth quarter was back-and-forth — each team moved the ball a little bit. We had that final drive, and I thought we executed our two-minute offense well, for the most part — we just ran out of time.”

The game got off to the kind of fast start coaches dream about, with the Red Devils (1-2) scoring on their first play from scrimmage. Starting from their own 20-yard line, quarterback Braunson Sims handed the ball off to Brayden Wallace, who found a huge hole up the middle and sprinted 80 yards for the touchdown. Victor Lozano’s PAT split the uprights, and with less than a minute gone in regulation, the Red Devils held a 7-0 lead.

If the quick score rattled the home team, it didn’t show. Riverton answered with a scoring drive of their own, culminating in a 34-yard touchdown run by Hunter Saltsgaver. As the first quarter wound down, the Wolverines took a 10-7 lead on a 36-yard field goal by Saltsgaver.

The Red Devils controlled the action for much of the second quarter, and were able to retake the lead on a gutsy call midway through the quarter. Facing a 4th-and-4 from the Riverton 12-yard line, Moore elected to go for it, instead of attempting a game-tying field goal. Sims dropped straight back and hit Brooks Searle on a slant, with Searle bullying his way in for the score. Lozano’s PAT was blocked, but the Red Devils led 13-10, a lead they would take into the break.

The third quarter belonged to Riverton, with the Wolverines scoring what would end up being the gamewinner on their opening drive of the second half. Leading 17-10, Riverton’s defense continued to give Evanston fits, though the Red Devils were able to come up with some stops of their own when needed to keep the game close.

As the game wound down in the fourth quarter, Evanston — out of timeouts and buried deep in their own territory — broke out their two-minute offense and moved the ball well. With 3.4 seconds remaining, and the ball on the Riverton 43-yard line, Sims heaved a pass to a streaking Clayton Cook down the sideline, but the ball was overthrown, ending the game.

“I think we learned a lot from the game – both the coaching staff and the kids,” Moore said. “You want to be in those positions in a real game — you practice those scenarios like the two-minute drill, but to be able to do it in a real game is always beneficial, long-term.”

Wallace — who’s emerged in recent weeks as the workhorse out of a crowded backfield loaded with talent — led the charge for the offense with 130 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries; he also caught seven passes out of the backfield for 84 yards.

“Brayden’s packing the ball well for us, and turning into a good receiver for us, as well,” Moore said. “He’s a dual threat, and it takes more than one kid to bring him down — he’s running really well right now.”

Sims finished with 27 yards on nine carries, followed by Brecken Rich, with 15 yards on five carries. Braxton Hanks had one carry for seven yards.

Sims had his best game of the season under center, completing 17 passes for 150 yards and a touchdown. Wallace was Sims’ favorite target on the night, with seven catches for 84 yards, while Searle hauled in five passes for 31 yards and a touchdown. Clayton Cook caught three passes for 29 yards, while Ryker Case and Brecken Rich each caught a pass, for 10 yards and -4 yards, respectively.

“I thought our passing game was much improved – I thought Braunson played a pretty solid game, throwing the ball around,” Moore said. “Our receivers caught the ball well, ran their routes a little bit better. Definitely much improved.”

Defensively, Cade Marler led the Red Devils with 16 points (9 tackles, 5 solo, 2 for loss), followed by Sims with 15 (7 tackles, 4 solo, 2 pass breakups) and Cook with 14 (8 tackles, 4 solo, 2 for loss). Rich rounded out the double-digit point earners with 10 (6 tackles, 3 solo, 1 for loss), while Bridger Roberts (6 tackles, 2 solo) and Grady Ivie (5 tackles, 3 solo) finished with eight points each.

“I thought our defense played well, for what they had to face,” Moore said. “Riverton got us with those counters, and with those screens — we definitely need to figure that out, because other teams will see that. So we need to work on those things.”

Moore went on to say those were examples of teams taking advantage of the Red Devils’ aggressiveness on defense — and that’s an issue that can be resolved, while still maintaining that level of aggression.

“It’s good that we’re aggressive — now we have to teach them to read their keys, and not be overly-aggressive,” he explained. “But I’d rather have that than not being aggressive. I think we can pull the reins back a bit and still let them get after it.”

The Red Devils head back over South Pass Friday to take on a familiar face — Lander head coach Jim Burton and his Tigers. Moore said the team will take the week to clean up some things, and concentrate on the fundamentals.

“We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing — I don’t think we need to throw anything away,” he said. “We’re doing a lot of good things. We’ll fine-tune, put in a few wrinkles here and there with what we’re seeing with Lander. Nothing major — just keep working on the fundamentals.”

As for what he’s seen from Lander on film so far this season, Moore said Burton has opened up his offense a little bit, so there may be a few surprises on than front.

“We expect to see the 3-5 defense, and he has changed his offense up a little bit,” Moore said. “They’ll spread it out a little more. He does do a full-house backfield, so it’s different than what we’re used to from him running. But it’s nothing we haven’t seen before from somebody else, we just have to go play solid football.”