Levi Nelson's Five Touchdowns Lift Hawks Past Wyoming's Top-Ranked Burlington, 48-44
By Chad Smith / HLSN Sports
State-wide predictors weren't giving the Hawks much of a chance heading into Friday night. The Burlington, Wyoming Huskies came to CJI Field unbeaten at 4-0 and ranked number one in the state of Wyoming, and the pundits had them winning by 24 points. What actually happened was one of the most thrilling games CJI has played all season, a back and forth slugfest that came down to the final 22 seconds before the Hawks held on for a 48-44 win.
The two teams traded scores for most of the night, with CJI clinging to a narrow lead through the middle quarters before the fourth quarter turned into an all-out track meet. Burlington opened the fourth quarter with a quick score to take a 28-26 lead with 9:47 left. CJI junior Levi Nelson answered right back to make it 32-28, Burlington retook the lead on a 69-yard kickoff return touchdown by Carsten Schlenker, and Nelson answered again to put CJI back in front, 40-36. Burlington answered one more time to reclaim the lead at 44-40, but Nelson delivered his fifth touchdown of the night, a 40-yard run, to put the Hawks up 48-44 with exactly one minute on the clock. Burlington's subsequent drive got them to half-field, but their hopes were dashed on fourth and 10 from the CJI 40 with 22 seconds left. With the Huskies needing a touchdown to win, senior Ryan Ramberg broke up their pass to halt the drive. CJI took over on downs and knelt out the final seconds.
Nelson put in a monster performance in the win. He carried the ball 29 times for 297 yards and five touchdowns, from 12, 46, 14, 65, and 40 yards out, a mix of power and breakaway speed that Burlington was never able to solve. He added two catches for 24 yards, and on defense, he teamed with Shane Woods to stop Burlington on fourth down on the game's opening possession, recovered a fumble in the first quarter, and finished with a team-high 13 tackles. Between his touchdowns and a successful PAT kick, Nelson had a hand in 32 of CJI's 48 points, going 1 for 3 on kicks himself. Ivar Englund made both of his extra-point attempts, which came on Nelson's final two touchdowns, including the kick that stretched CJI's lead to 48-44 with one minute left. He entered the night as the state's leading 6-man rusher through the first three games, and this performance is only going to widen that lead.
Quarterback Avery DeVries was excellent in his time on the field, completing 7 of 9 passes for 86 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with Ryan Ramberg and Dane Grammar, while adding 18 yards on 5 carries. He was also CJI's second-leading tackler before leaving the game with an injury in the fourth quarter, finishing with 11 tackles. Sophomore Brody Fossen stepped in at quarterback for the rest of the night. Fossen didn't put up a stat line of his own; he didn't attempt a pass or carry the ball himself, but he protected the ball and made the right reads, pitching to Nelson on both of the Hawks' final two touchdown drives. It was exactly the kind of steady, mistake-free relief performance a team needs in one of the biggest games of the season, and it deserves recognition even without a stat line attached to it.
Ryan Ramberg was all over both sides of the ball. He caught an 8-yard touchdown pass, carried the ball twice for 11 yards, and finished with 8 tackles and 2 pass deflections on defense, the second of which was the game-sealing stop on Burlington's final fourth-down play. Dane Grammar caught 5 passes for 57 yards and a touchdown, took a direct snap to spring Nelson's 46-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and handled CJI's kickoff duties, with a total of seven kickoffs for a 39-yard net average and 2 touchbacks.
The rest of the CJI defense chipped in as well. Jace Ramberg broke up a fourth-and-25 pass in the first quarter that kept Burlington off the board on what had been a promising drive. Connor Mattson finished with 5 tackles and a pass deflection of his own, part of a first-quarter defensive stand that forced three straight incompletions on a Burlington possession that started deep in CJI territory. Shane Woods added 2 tackles, including a tackle for loss.
Burlington did not go quietly. Senior Kole Walker was a key contributor for the Huskies all night, rushing 27 times for 189 yards and 3 touchdowns, completing 6 of 12 passes for 77 yards, and finishing with 13 tackles on defense, accounting for 24 of Burlington's 44 points by himself. Quarterback Chase Bassett added a rushing touchdown and a touchdown pass of his own, and Schlenker's 69-yard kickoff return score was one of the biggest plays of the night for either team.
Beating a team like Burlington is more than just the final score. The Huskies have played in the Wyoming 1A 6-Man state championship game each of the last four years, going 1-3 in that stretch, with their lone championship win a 42-39 victory over Little Snake River in 2023. Coach Trent Aagard is in his 10th year at the helm. In a phone conversation before the game, Aagard was quick to note how much Burlington and CJI have in common, located in a farming and ranching community of around 300 people, playing six-man football, and a high school enrollment of roughly 60 kids, very similar to CJI's enrollment numbers. He described his approach to non-conference road trips like Friday's simply: "Every team wants to have some good games to help them grow."
CJI outgained Burlington 415 yards to 342 and held the ball for over 24 minutes to Burlington's 15, evidence of just how physical and complete the Hawks' performance was against one of the most talented teams they will face all season.
Coach Jim Vinson didn't hide his pride in how his team rose to the challenge. "It was a dogfight, two really good football teams going at it," Vinson said. "It played out maybe better than a lot of people thought. Most predictors had us losing by twenty. But I don't expect people outside the program to understand what we are all about."
He pointed to the team's preparation and refusal to fold when Burlington answered score after score. "The boys knew going into this game what the challenge at hand was. They were literally going up against the best Wyoming had to offer," Vinson said. "We practiced extremely hard this week. We rose to the occasion, and there was no letdown whatsoever. We obviously faced adversity, but no one quit and we found a way to win."
Vinson also drew a line between Friday's win and the tight victory over Power/Dutton-Brady the week before, a game that looks even more impressive after PDB went out last night and blew out a previously unbeaten Highwood team. "That's the best three-loss team I've ever seen," Vinson said of PDB. "Do I think teams like that get handed brutal schedules? Absolutely. But I think when you're handed those schedules, it's because people know you're good."
That's been the story of CJI's season so far, a slate of tightly contested games against quality opponents, with the Hawks finding a way through week after week. The win is their fourth in a row and improves their record to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play. CJI is off this week for its bye before returning to action October 9 at Big Sandy for a pivotal conference matchup.
Click here for a full gallery of photos from the game.
