This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Grantsville • The game was a tale of two halves, but unfortunately for Grantsville, San Juan had the better one.
The Broncos (4-0) attacked the Cowboys (2-2) early, built up a lead and hung on for an 18-7 win on the road.
The Broncos started with a bang, showing no ill effects from their 5-hour bus trip. After an initial 8-yard pass, San Juan ran the rest of the way for a 73-yard opening touchdown drive. After a quick three-and-out by the Cowboys, the Broncos capped another 50-yard drive with a tackle-breaking run by Stetler Shumway.
In the first quarter alone, San Juan ran up 123 yards of offense to Grantsville's eight.
Cowboys quarterback Bridger Boman struggled to avoid the pass rush and was forced into mistakes by a tough Broncos defense. In the first half, he found receiver Dalen Erickson for two receptions, the same number of times cornerback Tyler Nielson sniffed out his passes for interceptions.
San Juan scored one more time going into halftime, finishing a 55-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run from Ryan Lyman. Although the Broncos did not convert an extra point or complete a two-point attempt on any of their scores, they seemed to have all the momentum headed into the second half with an 18-0 lead.
On the half-opening kickoff return, Lincoln Kelley sped past defenders on an electric 99-yard touchdown return. The Cowboys' defense picked up on the spark, holding San Juan to 37 yards in a second-half shutout.
"They took away the outside and forced us in," San Juan coach Monty Lee said. "We could never get anything going."
On the other side of the ball, Grantsville started generating some offense, but couldn't score. The Broncos' defense inevitably came up with a clutch tackle, sack or forced incompletion. The game came to a close in the final 2 minutes as Boman couldn't find a receiver.
"That's the best team we've seen this year," Cowboys coach Tony Cloward said after the game. "We feel proud of our effort in the second half, unfortunately the game is made up of two halves, and we couldn't get it done."