| The Emery defense gets ready for the play. |
The Emery High School Spartans traveled to Morgan High School on Oct. 29 and lost a state opening round football game to Morgan 45-7.
When the 2-8 Spartans took the field, they were the clear underdogs to the 8-1 Trojans. Not only were the Trojans region champions, they had won most of their games by a sizeable lopsided score.
Morgan scored first in the game on a 1-yard run to lead 6-0 after the first quarter. Morgan tried a 2-point conversion that was unsuccessful. Morgan had a 32-yard field goal in the second quarter to build the lead to 9-0.
At this point, Emery mounted a drive that culminated in a 4-yard touchdown run by Emery fullback Luke Stoddard. Jason Christensen added the extra point. This turned out to be Emery’s only score. Emery looked good as they marched down the field. Emery’s fans were delighted because we had a game going.
With a score of 9-7, Emery allowed a Morgan touchdown with just seconds left in the first half to have a halftime score of 17-7.
The first six minutes of the second half belonged all to Morgan as they scored four touchdowns in the first six minutes of the third quarter. Emery contributed to the scoring blitz with three interceptions to allow the Trojans to get the ball back often. Emery had a total of four interceptions in the game, two thrown by Dave Justice, one by Damon Downing and one on a halfback pass.
Morgan scored on a 49-yard run, a 15-yard pass, a 6-yard run and finally a 34-yard pass. There was no more scoring the rest of the way as the clock now ran and Emery was not able to mount any serious threats.
Head Coach Kevin Reynolds had this to say after, “We played well in the first half and then it got away from us pretty quickly there in the second half. The Morgan kids were very quick and they executed very well. We just couldn’t keep up with their pass rush.”
Coach Reynolds then talked about his team, “The kids played hard at Morgan, they hung in there even when we were down and they never gave up. That is the story of these kids, they have always finished the game.”
Coach Reynolds then thanked the team, “I appreciate the kids playing hard and they gave all they had each and every game.”