Emery football falls to Delta

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports Writer

After two consecutive losses, the Emery High Spartan football team is in a spot that they really did not envision themselves in before the season began. Injuries, move outs, grades and suspensions have greatly altered the season for the teams and their fans.
Two weeks ago, with the paper having an early print time due to the holiday and therefore the game story was not included, Emery traveled to Grand High School where the Devils obtained revenge for the thumping Emery gave them last season as they defeated Emery 48-21.
Last Friday night, Emery traveled to Delta and lost a heartbreaker 12-7. The road games continue for Emery this week, as Emery will travel to Richfield this Friday night.
Emery had an opportunity to defeat the Rabbits but Emery did not get it done. Emery gave up an interception for a touchdown in the first half for the only score of the half and Delta led 6-0 at the half. Emery threatened to take the lead but a touchdown was called back due to a penalty.
Both teams scored in the third quarter but the Spartan score was called back for the second time due to another penalty. Emery finally scored in the fourth quarter on a Ryan Cox run, the other two scores were also Cox runs, and a Ridge Nielson extra point. Emery had one more opportunity but was unable to punch it in and they picked up their second loss.
Cox was the leading rusher in both games. Ryan ran for 172 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown against Grand and then continued at Delta with 97 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown at Delta. Marco Mota had 76 yards and two touchdowns against Grand. At Delta, sophomore Bryce Dugmore got the start at running back and picked up 34 yards on 10 carries.
Emery had opportunity against Delta as they had four takeaways. Kelton Price had an interception and Justan Potter, Zach West and Tyler Olsen recovered Rabbit fumbles but the Spartans could not get the ball in the end zone to count more than that one time. Emery gave up two interceptions in the game.
At Grand, Emery had other opportunities to score but dropped passes probably left two touchdowns off the table that might have influenced the game outcome. The Spartans will start region play at home on Sept. 20 when Morgan comes to town.