The phrase “Wednesday night lights” doesn’t quite have a familiar ring to it. But make no mistake, Wednesday night’s battle was an important game for the Grantsville High School football team, as the Cowboys hit the road for a pivotal Region 11 matchup with the Ogden Tigers.

Heading into the game, both teams had identical 1-2 region records and shared a spot at the bottom of the league standings with Bear River and Ben Lomond, a fact that made Wednesday’s game that much more important for a potential postseason berth.

Unfortunately for Grantsville, Ogden used a come-from-behind effort to clinch a 28-23 victory, putting the Cowboys in a must-win situation with one regular season game remaining.

“We knew they were a good football team,” Grantsville coach Tony Cloward said of the much-improved Tigers. “They have some athletes, they’re working hard, and we knew it was going to be a battle. We were right there.”

The Cowboys started the game without a problem, forcing Ogden to punt after a quick three-and-out series.

On Grantsville’s first offensive possession, running back Alex Childs and quarterback Gareth Anderson moved the ball to the Tigers’ 18-yard line before settling for a 33-yard field goal from Forrest Stephenson.

Ogden was quick to respond, with quarterback Nik Allred giving Grantsville an early taste of what was to come later on. Allred used six runs to pile up a quick 31 yards, including a one-yard touchdown plunge to cap the 65-yard drive.

The junior QB finished the game with 163 rushing yards on 21 carries, and also scored another touchdown on the ground. Allred completed 16 passes for 137 yards and accounted for two more TD’s through the air. As a team, the Tigers gained 394 total yards. In contrast, the Cowboys gained 242 net yards.

Giving Ogden’s offense the opportunity to compile such statistics was exactly what Coach Cloward didn’t want to do.

“We were looking to control the line of scrimmage and the clock, and that’s exactly what they did,” he said.

“Our goal was to basically win the game of time and possession. We ended up scoring on big plays, and they ended up scoring on long, methodical drives, so they beat us at our own game plan.”

The Cowboys got two consecutive big plays from Childs. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior scored on a 30-yard pass from Anderson with 43 seconds remaining in the first half, but didn’t slow down after the halftime break.

Childs took Grantsville’s first play from scrimmage in the third quarter 67 yards down the sideline for a quick touchdown, giving the Cowboys a 17-7 lead.

Allred hit tight end Max Rodriguez with a two-yard pass to cut the lead to three midway through the third quarter.

Stephenson intercepted a pass near the end of the period, but the Cowboys fumbled the ball away on their own 47-yard line several plays later.

Ogden went nowhere following the fumble recovery and punted the ball back to Grantsville, but another fumble with less than a minute to play in the third quarter, this time on the Cowboys’ 20-yard line, set up an Ogden touchdown by running back Ben Buck.

Trailing 21-17 early in the fourth period, Anderson tossed an errant pass which was intercepted by Ogden’s Mason Malan. The Tigers turned the interception into a touchdown eight plays later, when Allred scored on a one-yard keeper.

“We didn’t really stop their offense tonight, but it was the turnovers that absolutely killed us,” Cloward said.

The Cowboys strung together a 12-play, 93-yard drive on the ensuing possession that culminated in a 22-yard scoring strike from Anderson to receiver Benji Cole. However, Anderson’s two-point conversion pass attempt to Childs was incomplete after several penalties put Grantsville nearly 15 yards away from the end zone.

An onside kick attempt by the Cowboys was recovered by Ogden, and the Tigers held onto the ball for the game’s final three minutes.

“I thought (Grantsville) did a great job preparing for us,” Ogden coach Eric Eyre said. “They have some stud athletes, and they had a good scheme on offense and made some big plays.”

Despite facing an uphill battle just to make it into the state 3A playoffs, Cloward remains optimistic about the remainder of the Cowboys’ season.

“We still think we’re alive and we’re going to come to work,” he said. “We’ve got a really tough one with a bitter rival next week with Morgan. But we don’t have much time to lick our wounds. We have to win a game to get into the playoffs.”