Prep Athlete of the Week: Cam Hayes, East

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) - Over the weekend, the T-Birds football team left victorious in their annual meeting with archrival Central-- bouncing back in a big way from their loss to Sheridan the week prior.

In that game, quarterback Cam Hayes continued his elite play in 2023; his productive passing numbers were fairly on par with what he’s done in East’s previous games, but his rushing totals particularly jumped off the stat sheet on Friday. Hayes said his effectiveness on the ground wasn’t even a part of the plan going into the contest.

”Well actually [the previous] Friday night against Sheridan I hurt my leg, so we actually gameplanned for me to run it a lot less than I usually do. We just had to adapt to some adversity, and I had to just take the ball myself and run it a couple times and it worked out,” Hayes said.

Hayes compiled 111 rushing yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, which was his biggest output on the ground this year. The senior added 265 passing yards and two touchdowns to extend his 4A lead in both categories-- plus he caught a pass for seven yards on a trick play as well. That performance helped East pull away for a 45-16 win after going down 10-7 late in the second quarter.

This was the last time in the regular season that Hayes would be under center against the Indians, and picking up that victory meant a great deal to him.

”It’s just a great rivalry, and to be able to beat them for the last-- I don’t know eight, nine years-- it’s just great to see in our program. Just to go into those big games and come out on top. It just shows how hard we play, and how hard we work,” Hayes said.

Next up for Hayes and the T-Birds is another crosstown matchup against South.

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