| These black defenders have their eye on the ball. |
The annual black and gold football game was held on Aug. 16 in Castle Dale. This game signifies that football is back for the season. The Spartan team divided into black and gold teams and went head to head for some preseason practice. The gold team jumped out early with a score in the first minutes of the game. The extra point was up and good by sophomore kicker, Daniel Espino.
Gold kicked the ball to the black team and Matt Harrison took the ball and ran it back to the 36 yard line. Black continued down the field, but ended up giving it back with a punt. The game this evening didn’t include actual punts but the ball was marched 40 yards down the field where gold took over the ball. The black team took some tough defensive play and turned it into a safety as they backed the gold team into the endzone and also received possession of the ball on a gold kickoff.
Chris Keller returned the ball for the black team. The next time the gold team had the ball they were set back by two penalties, but not to be held back, Bo Jeffs, quarterback, connected with Kaden Wilson for a first down; another first down came when Jeffs connected with Seth Powell. The next play resulted in a fumble but gold was able to hang on to the ball. Black proved to be tough as they held the gold team out of the endzone on four consecutive tries from within the five yard line.
The black team took over on the goal line and a quarterback keeper by Garrett Swenson took them away from the endzone and down the field. The ball returned to the gold team on downs and the first quarter ended with a score of 7-gold and 2-black. The gold team scored first in the second quarter when Kaden Wilson intercepted the ball and ran halfway down the field for a touchdown. This put them up by a score of 14-2 after the point after kick by Espino.
The first two quarters were played by the varsity team and the third and fourth quarters were played with junior varsity and sophomore players, there are also two freshmen players on the team. The black team started off the third quarter with a quick touchdown from Joey Bernard, quarterback, to Brandon Olson. Cory Mongomery made good on the extra point and the score stood at 14-gold, 9-black. The gold team was ready to answer with some yardage of their own with a long pass from quarterback Mike Blomquist to Steven Malolo. A short pass to Espino was good for the touchdown and an unsuccessful two point conversion by Brady Larsen left the score at 20-gold, 9-black.
The black team started back down the field on a good return by Olson who was tackled by Shane Clark. Bernard to Matt Stucki proved a good combination for the black as the third completed pass by the pair resulted in a touchdown. A two point conversion pass from Bernard to Zeke Powell brought the black team to within three. The black team reached into their bag of tricks and tried their luck at an onside kick to surprise the gold team. It was recovered by the black team and they again began moving the ball down the field. Bernard again hit Stucki for a touchdown which gave the black team a three point lead for the first time in the game.
The gold team did not back down, however and quickly brought the ball down the field with some quick plays. With 27 seconds left in the game Espino gained some big yardage on the ground. A couple of passes were also thrown to try to get the ball into the endzone, but were unsuccessful. The ball was intercepted on the last pass of the game to end the hope of a gold victory. The final score was gold-20 and black-23. The Spartans will play their first game of the season on Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. at Spartan field against Union.