Cowboys Take A Step Towards Playoff Berth

With just a couple of weeks left in the regular season the North Gem Cowboys took a giant step in the right direction as they continue to fight for a playoff spot.  The Cowboys traveled to Mackay last Friday for a Rocky Mountain Conference showdown with the Miners.  With the playoff picture tightening up, a Cowboy loss would just about eliminate them from contention.  That is a fate that the Cowboys are determined to avoid this year after last season's disappointing finish where they were just edged out of the playoffs due to some tiebreaker scoring.  

As things started off last Friday, the Cowboys and Miners looked as if they were in for a long slugfest.  The Miners received the opening kickoff and chewed up just over six minutes to draw first blood and go up on North Gem 8-0.  The Cowboys answered back with some good runs by Rusty Hatch and the game was tied up with eight points each.  On the ensuing Mackay possession, the Miners helped the Cowboys defense out by committing several penalties and were forced to punt.  A few plays later and the Cowboys were in the endzone again, this time off of a Yost run up the middle from forty yards out.  The Cowboys took the lead 16-8 with just twelve seconds left in the first quarter.

On the opening drive of the second, the Miners moved the ball early, but eventually the Cowboys were able to make a defensive stop on fourth down and force the turnover on downs.  North Gem took advantage of the turnover, marching down the field with the big play on the drive being a pass to Ryver Hayden to set the Cowboys up in scoring position.  Hatch finished the drive off with back-to-back quarterback sneaks that ended in the endzone.  North Gem now felt in control of the game, leading 24-8 with under five minutes left in the first half.  With the Miners on offense and moving down the field in the closing seconds of the first half, things got just a little chippy with several penalties called mostly on the Miners side of the ball.  The Cowboys defense made another stand, but this time the Miner’s drive ended with an interception by Ryver Haden.

The third quarter started off rough for the Cowboys.  The opening kickoff was a ground burner down the middle of the field that took a big hop right over the Cowboys return man.  North Gem was able to get on the ball but would have to start deep in their own territory.  Just a couple of plays later the Cowboys coughed up a fumble and the Miners were given great field position.  The Miners then fumbled the ball near the goaline.  After an officials’ gathering, a controversial touchdown was awarded to the Miners and the Cowboy lead was cut to 24-14 less than two minutes into the second half. After several more flags were thrown and each team trading punts, Yost was able to break loose again from thirty-three yards out and the Cowboy lead was pushed back up to a 30-14 lead.  

From there the Cowboys rolled to victory, adding a Hatch scoring run and a safety in the third quarter, then tacking on three more scores in the fourth.  The final score in this one was 62-14.  The Cowboy pass defense looked much stronger in this game as they limited the passing yards for the Miners.  On the downside there were several penalties called on both teams.  This is something the Cowboys will have to address as their competition in the final two weeks of the season will take a step up with 2A Grace and Rocky Mountain Conference leaders Rockland to finish off the season.