SPORTS PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR: NORTH GEM FOOTBALL

After offering up eight high quality sports performances of the year the votes have been tallied and the results are in.  The Sports Performance of 2025 goes to the North Gem Cowboys football team for their win over Rockland in the season finale.  This game was an offensive showcase that featured the Rockland aerial attack against the Cowboys power run game.  There was plenty of drama and excitement with playoff implications as well as a record breaking performance by one Cowboy.  This was the last regular season game for each team.  A Rockland win would put the Bulldogs in the playoffs.  A Cowboys win would have to be a large enough margin of victory to cover the three way tie breaker with Rockland and Challis for North Gem to qualify for the playoffs.  This was a tall order considering that the Cowboys had not beaten the Bulldogs in three years.  

 Though there were plenty of Cowboys that took part in this game the two leaders on the team were a pair of seniors.  Craig Yost and Haydn Frandsen were multi year starters for the Cowboys potentially playing in the final game of their careers.  Frandsen has made a name for himself as a tough hard nosed player and one could argue that he was the key to the Cowboys run game success.  His play at the center position with his unique stance and explosiveness off the ball was crucial to Yost’s running success.  Yost meanwhile had been racking up yards for the Cowboys since his freshman year.  Now in his final home game as a Cowboy he was on the cusp of breaking the schools all time rushing record.  By games end Yost did end up breaking that rushing record that by the way, was previously held by his father Date Yost.  The game itself was full of big plays with an incredible amount of scoring that included a third quarter where sixty points were added to the scoreboard.  Yes you read that right.  In the third quarter alone each team scored thirty points.  In the end the Cowboys came away victorious by the score of 78-72.  The victory was bittersweet.  Yes, the Cowboys had beaten their district rivals and eliminated them from the playoffs, but they did not win by a wide enough margin to earn a playoff spot themselves.  In the end the only spoils the victors would relish would be pride and bragging rights.   

The Cowboy’s sideline celebrates one of their many touchdowns of the day

 It goes without saying that if you are a fan of defense this may not have been your cup of tea.  However the offensive stats put up are something that may never be replicated.  Between the two teams a total of 1347 all purpose yards were gained.  The Bulldogs aerial attack accounted for 438 passing yards with 153 on the ground.  The Cowboys power run game tallied up 527 rushing yards with Yost claiming 318 of those yards for himself.  North Gem added 0 passing yards.  That’s right the Cowboys were so committed to the run game that they recorded zero pass attempts in the game.  Each team scored ten touchdowns with the difference in the score coming from two point conversions where the Cowboys had three more successful attempts than the Bulldogs.  On a sunny Friday afternoon in late October the Cowboys put on a show that will live on for years to come in North Gem lore.  Congrats to the North Gem Cowboys on a well deserved sports performance of the year. 

Standout Freshman Clay Johnson looks to gain yards against the Rockland defense