Prep Athlete of the Week: Ben Malone, Laramie

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) - The Laramie Plainsmen won their first game of the season over the Kelly Walsh Trojans on Friday.

Ben Malone was instrumental in carrying his team to a win, with two long touchdown passes to secure the victory, and for the second week in a row a school is getting their first Athlete of the Week nod this season.

Malone said the team had a different energy about them coming into the game.

“Definitely more confident than our past games. I don’t really know why, but you can tell in the locker room when we came out there was just a different vibe between all the teammates and everything. So we definitely were a lot more confident and we were more ready to kind of give our heart out on the line. One of our coaches said we had to be the aggressor that game and I think that we did that very well,” Malone said

That mentality paid off as they went out and snagged a 14-6 win over the Trojans on homecoming night.

Malone said the original gameplan was to get the ball to wide receiver Adrien Calderon, but he was well covered all night by Kelly Walsh. That meant Mason Branch had to step up, and he did in a big way-- catching both of Malone’s TD passes.

At the end of the game, Malone relished watching the last seconds tick off the clock.

“Holy cow it was a great feeling, taking that last knee it was a great feeling. We really fought hard the whole game, so just taking that knee knowing we came out on top was a great feeling,” Malone said.

The Plainsmen have a road tilt against Thunder Basin next on Oct. 7.

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