It took Tooele boys’ soccer over a half to finally take advantage of their scoring opportunities but once they got rolling in the final 30 minutes, Grantsville didn’t have an answer.

Three different Tooele players knocked in goals in the second half and toss in a Grantsville own goal and the Buffaloes earned a 4-0 season-opening victory over the Cowboys Monday afternoon in Tooele.

“I think that with what we saw today that we have a chance to win a few soccer games,” said Tooele coach Rick Smith. “However, putting this team together we still have some work to do.”

Austin Gonzales, Erick Rosas and Ben Medley all found the back of the net in the final 30 minutes and that was more than enough for Tooele keeper Peter Wilson, who didn’t receive many scoring threats from the Cowboys, to keep a shutout.

Grantsville did play strong defense in the first half, even in the face of numerous scoring opportunities for the Buffaloes. Preston Rust and Colton Sandoval did their best to keep Tooele’s shooting opportunities from turning into goals.

Tooele brought the heat in the opening 25 minutes. The best scoring opportunity for the Buffaloes came when Gonzales had a clear shot from about 15 yards out fly just over the cross bar in the 18th minute. Brian Kirk also applied a lot of pressure in the opening minutes to no avail.

The scoring chances for Grantsville didn’t happen as often but Ashton Wright and Scott Chamberlin each had scoring opportunities turned away in the first half.

Right when both teams appeared to head to the half with no score, disaster struck for the Cowboys. Miscommunication in the backfield turned an innocent Tooele cross into a own goal for Grantsville and gave Tooele a 1-0 advantage at the half.

Grantsville continuously turned away the Tooele advances in the first half but the second half was a different story. In the 59th minute, Bobby Schmidt centered a pass that cut through the Cowboy defense and found the foot of Gonzales for a 2-0 Tooele lead.

For the next 18 minutes there seemed to be more yellow cards distributed in the game than there were scoring chances as both rival teams became physical with each other. During the 77th minute, Rosas managed to get a shot off before falling to the turf that found the right corner of the net for a spacious 3-0 lead for Tooele.

Three minutes later, Medley took advantage of a Grantsville turnover in front of their own goal and knocked in Tooele’s fourth goal for good measure against their rivals.

“They have to trust each other out there to play their position,” Smith said. “They just can’t chase after every ball because you get too many people in the middle of the field that way.”

Grantsville never let up on offense with Sam Williamson, Devon Kimber and Kaden Fonger each attempting to break the shutout but Tooele would keep the clean sheet and hold the Cowboys scoreless.

Tooele continues play on Wednesday when they travel to West Valley City to face Hunter at 3:30 p.m.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com