The Copper Basin Cougars hosted district foe Sale Creek Friday, September 17, in Copperhill, looking to get back in the groove after a lengthy layoff. The Cougars played well at times, but mistakes late in the game proved to be too much to overcome as the Panthers left with a 34-20 win.
Copper Basin kicked off to start the ballgame and perfectly executed an onsides kick to get the ball in excellent field position at the Sale Creek 44 yard line. The Cougars moved the ball behind tailback Sebastian Balilies before a pass interference call set them up in scoring position. On the sixth play of the drive, senior quarterback Joe Boggs connected with speedy junior Cadan Williams on a brilliant 22 yard touchdown pass to jump out in front 6-0 with 6:29 left in the opening quarter. The two-point conversion was unsuccessful.
Another squib kick was recovered by Sale Creek on their side of midfield, and it didn’t take long for the Panthers to answer as they hit a long pass down to the Cougar six yard line. On second down from the Basin four, Sale Creek tied the game at six apiece, converted on the two-point play, and held an 8-6 lead with 2:21 left in the first quarter.
Basin started their next drive at their own 27 yard line. Boggs started the drive with a nifty 15 yard run and later hit Williams with a beautiful pass down to the Panther six yard line.
The second quarter began with Basin at the six yard line, and Boggs struck again, as he threw a dart to Cade Dean in the endzone, putting the Cougars back on top 12-8 with 11:49 left in the second quarter.
Sale Creek received the kickoff at their own 46 yard line and started their second drive of the night. A huge sack by junior Krus Soto on fourth down gave the ball right back to Copper Basin.
On third down, Boggs had a nice 35 yard scamper to inside the Sale Creek 40 yard line, but the drive stalled after Sale Creek got a sack of their own on fourth down and three.
The Panthers took over at their 30 yard line and took the next four and a half minutes off of the clock. On the tenth play of the drive, Sale Creek found the endzone from 13 yards out with 2:33 left in the first half. The extra point was good and the visitors had the lead 15-12.
Niether team scored again, and the first half ended with Sale Creek up 15-12.
The third quarter started with both teams having drives that stalled out, and after the Panthers punted, Balilies set the Cougars up with great field position as he returned the punt down to the Sale Creek 20 yard line with 7:45 to go in the third quarter. On the second play of the drive, Boggs scored on a powerful run from five yards out, and the Cougars took the lead with 7:01 left in the quarter. This time, the Cougars converted on the two-point conversion to go up 20-15.
Boggs set Basin up on the next Panther drive as he stepped in front of a Sake Creek receiver and picked off a pass at the Sale Creek 48 yard line. But a few plays later, Sale Creek got the ball back on a turnover and took over at their 30 yard line.
After forcing a Panther punt, Copper Basin turned the ball over again on the first play of the fourth quarter. That set up a nine play drive that ended with a six yard touchdown run with 7:39 left in the ballgame to put Sale Creek back in front 21-20. The two-point conversion was no good.
Sale Creek took advantage of Basin mishandling a pooch kick and took over at Copper Basin’s 38 yard line. On the fifth play of the drive, the Panthers found pay dirt again from 11 yards out, increasing their lead to 27-20, after another failed two-point try. Copper Basin’s next drive ended with an incomplete pass on fourth and ten with 4:45 left to play.
The Panthers took over at the Basin 38 and started a five play drive that ended with another Panther score, this one from 15 yards out. The extra point was good to give Sale Creek a 34-20 lead with 1:12 to go in the football game.
The Cougars tried to get a scoring drive going, but an interception stopped the effort.
The Cougars offense was led by Boggs, who was 7-16 for 170 yards and threw two touchdowns. Boggs also rushed for another 63 yards and added a touchdown on the ground.
Balilies had a good night running the football, as he rushed 22 times for 92 yards. He also had two catches for 18 yards. Williams led Basin’s receiving corps with two catches for 92 yards and a score, while the freshman Dean caught two balls for 28 yards and a touchdown. Junior Isaac Deal had one catch for 32 yards.
Basin’s defense was led by Boggs, who had 12 total tackles and an interception, plus a tackle for loss (TFL). Junior Addison Hook chipped in with 10 tackles and a tackle for loss. Kade Foster also had a TFL to go with his 8 tackles. Deal finished with five tackles and Eli White had six stops, while Balilies had four tackles.
Head Coach Chad Grabowski wasn’t happy with the result, of course, but he also understands he has a young team that needs to gain experience each week, game by game. “We played hard again on Friday night, but had too many mistakes that cost us the game in the end. We have to continue to work on improving each week in practice and gaining experience each week so that we can have a better game on Friday.”