Cowboys Suffer First Loss Of The Season

The North Gem Cowboys hit a wall Friday afternoon and that wall was the Shoshone Indians.  The previously unscathed Cowboys were riding high to start the season and had high hopes of that run continuing against the Indians.  Unfortunately a combination of the Indians superior size and strength combined with Cowboy penalties and injuries doomed North Gem in this one.

Shoshone came out of the gates as the aggressors.  The much larger offensive line of the Indians had the Cowboys defensive line on their heels for most of the day.  Shoshone scored very quickly on their first possession of the game and took the early lead and never gave it up.  The Cowboys struggled to keep pace with the Indians throughout the first half and trailed by the score of 30-0 at the halftime break.  The Cowboys came out of the halftime break with some renewed energy and quickly moved the ball down the field for their first score of the game.  The new energy was quickly sucked out of the team as the injury bug took a big bite out of the Cowboys.  Two big senior leaders in Craig Yost and Haydn Frandsen both found themselves out of the game at the same time for several minutes.  Yost would eventually reenter the game with a freshly wrapped ankle but Frandsen was ruled out for the remainder of the game.  Also banged up during this stretch was freshman standout Clay Johnson.  Johnson was able to remain in the game but it was clear he was not at full strength.

The Cowboys continued to fight to stay in the game but just could not contend with the Shoshone offense.  Two and a half minutes into the fourth quarter the Indians hit the mercy rule threshold initiating a running clock.  With one last gasp the Cowboys offense finally broke through the Indian defense for just their second score on the last play of the game.  The Cowboys go down for the first time this season losing 52-12.

This week the Cowboys will hit the road for the first time this season.  Their opponent will be Sho-Ban.  This will be a favorable match-up for the Cowboys but they will not be overlooking the Chiefs.  Sho-Ban has not fielded a team for the past few years but will have plenty of size and athleticism to keep them competitive.  That being said, North Gem’s hardnosed football approach will give the Chiefs all they want.