In addition to a loss, Natrona County left its game against Thunder Basin on Oct. 4 without its starting center. Senior Phoenix Wilson went down with an injury, leaving the Mustangs with a hole in the middle of their offense. Someone needed to step up.
Numerous Mustangs volunteered, but the one who won the job was Johnathon True. The senior, typically a tight end, started his first game at center in Friday’s Oil Bowl. It wasn’t how he expected his first significant taste of the annual rivalry game to go, but his sacrifice in the 27-0 shutout encompassed the selflessness that the defending champions have become known for.
“He told me, ‘I’d love to catch a touchdown pass in the Oil Bowl, but if this is going to help us win the Oil Bowl, I’ll move,’” head coach Steve Harshman said. “He learned that new position tonight and I thought that was really good.”
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Throughout the week of practice True changed his number from 87 to 57 and learned the minutia of the position. He returned to the bench after his first series saying how much fun his first game-speed experience was embroiled in the trenches.
But the move didn’t come without its growing pains. True said that adjusting to a defender lined up in front of him took time to adjust to because that’s something he’s not used to as a tight end. There were also the errant shotgun snaps, including one that rolled back to quarterback Harrison Taubert early in the second quarter. Taubert picked it up and improvised, running in the opposite direction for an 8-yard touchdown to open the scoring.
“I went up to him and said, ‘I love you. Thank you so much,’” True laughed.
True also contributed at his usual defensive end position, helping anchor the Mustangs’ second consecutive Oil Bowl shutout. True and Harshman both spoke of Taubert’s move to safety as a key for the team’s development. The junior came away with an interception on Friday by simply reading Kelly Walsh quarterback Trenton Walker’s eyes and drifting toward the receiver.
“I love defense. I love every moment,” Taubert said. “I like playing both sides of the ball, I think it helps me stay focused in the game.”
That focus helped the Mustangs score a second straight shutout of Kelly Walsh for the first time since 1989-90.
True had heard about those Oil Bowls, and many more around the dinner table and at family reunions. Not only has he had older siblings go through the football program, he’s a fourth-generation Mustang. He said that he wasn’t necessarily raised on Oil Bowl stories, he was raised on football stories.
“You can only be told so much,” he said. “Then you need to just experience it. We’ve talked about it before but you never really know it until you’re there.”
Now he has his own story to tell.
“It’s a great story, a great team story,” True said. “Everyone’s made sacrifices, it’s so great. You can always isolate one person but it’s been such a great team effort and sacrifice for everyone.”
Harshman said the week leading up to the Oil Bowl was the team’s best week of practice all season. The Mustangs know they’ll have to match that intensity the rest of the way.
With two games left in the regular season Natrona County finds itself two games out of first and one game out of second in the standings. The Mustangs, who are tied with Cheyenne East and one game ahead of both Cheyenne Central and Rock Springs, have just Central and Rock Springs left on their schedule. Friday, East held on to defeat Central 24-21 and the Tigers led undefeated Thunder Basin 14-0 before ultimately losing 24-14. So the journey doesn’t get any easier.
“We’ve got a lot of football ahead of us and we’ve got to keep getting better,” Harshman said. “Best week of practice all year, next week will be even better.”
At the very least, the Mustangs know they can count on the new guy in the middle of the offense to help move the team forward. True admitted he’s got a lot to improve on. So he’s looking forward to making even more sacrifices down the road.
“We need to play like that Friday’s the state championship and then we rest and go to the next Friday,” True said. “That’s how we’ve got to go through the rest of the season.”