The passing combination of junior quarterback Bridger Boman and senior wide receiver Tyson Hutchins were unstoppable Friday night for the Cowboys in a 20-7 home victory over North Sanpete.

The Cowboys found themselves in a tough situation early on as the Hawks moved the ball near the goal line on North Sanpete’s first offensive possession. The Hawks had the ball on the 2 yard line facing a fourth-and-goal situation. Hawks’ quarterback Rhett Bird kept the ball as he sprinted to the left side of the field trying to reach the end zone when he was met by Grantsville linebacker Keaton Knapp. Knapp was the victor as he made the touchdown-saving tackle for the Cowboys.

From that point on Grantsville’s passing game took off like a Boeing 757 jet. Boman piloted the Cowboys’ offense with precision as he connected with Hutchins for seven pass completions for 165 yards.

“They (North Sanpete) sometimes had nine in the box, they were determined to stop the run and so we went to the passing game,” said Grantsville coach Tony Cloward. “We’re not going to be a passing team but we have a nice short passing game and you saw the effects of that, we tossed it around really well tonight.”

With just over three minutes left in the first half Hutchins returned a punt 21 yards into the Hawks territory to the 39 yard line. Following the great return the Cowboys successfully ran a screen pass when Boman tossed the ball to running back Kort Fonger, who followed his blockers for a 29 yard gain before he was finally tackled on the 10 yard line. A penalty on the play following the big gain pushed the Cowboys back to the 15 yard line, but they overcame the minor setback when Boman whipped a pass into the end zone to sophomore tight end Dalen Erickson for the Cowboys first touchdown of the game with 1:40 left in the first half, giving Grantsville the lead 7-0.

The scoring wasn’t done for the Cowboys in the first half yet. With 45 seconds left in the half Grantsville had the ball again on their own 19 yard line as Boman dropped back and spotted Hutchins one step past his defender and fired a strike to the receiver for 32 yards. That duo connected again just a few seconds later as Boman found Hutchins racing past his defender, only this time it was for a 47-yard gain as Hutchins was tripped up on the 3 yard line. With precious seconds ticking off the clock the Cowboys offense sprinted up to the line of scrimmage and quickly spiked the ball with 5 seconds left in the half. On the last play of the drive Boman and Hutchins hooked up for the third straight time on the drive, this time the result was a 3 yard touchdown pass.

After the touchdown Grantsville was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, of which they had three of for the game. The penalty set up a difficult PAT attempt that was missed. Grantsville entered the half with a 13-0 advantage.

The Cowboys scored one more time in the game as Fonger ran an 11 yard touchdown through an enormous hole created by offensive linemen Skyler Cloward, Ben Tripp, Dalton Stice Taylor Matthews, and Cameron Decker.

The defensive line also did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage as defensive tackles Tripp and Matthews as well as defensive ends Drew Hart and Kaleb Killpack constantly disrupted the Hawks in the backfield.

“We’re very small, so our guys have to play real tough up front,” Coach Cloward said of his line. “But we did a good job tonight on both the offensive and defensive lines; we really got after it in the trenches.”

North Sanpete scored off of a 55 yard touchdown pass with 5:55 remaining in the game, but it was too little too late as the Cowboys were victorious, winning with a final score of 20-7.

The Cowboys will be home again Friday when they play the Millard Eagles at 7 p.m.