by Danny Rogers

The home standing Copper Basin Cougars won their fourth game of the season against one loss, defeating Grace Academy 28-14 in an important Region 3-A contest. The Cougars broke open a game that was deadlocked at 14 at halftime and dominated the rest of the way for the win. Dylan Boggs led a devastating Basin aerial attack as he completed 10 passes in 17 attempts for 252 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Stephen Spargo snagged 5 of Boggs strikes for 124 yards and a touchdown while Bryce Nicholson caught 3 passes for 55 yards and a touchdown. Boggs other touchdown pass went to Justin Vasquez and covered 50 yards. Denzel Brown was Basin’s leading rusher with 67 yards on 13 carries and scored the Cougars other touchdown on a 5 yard run. Grace quarterback Josh Smith led the Golden Eagle attack, rushing for 88 yards on 15 attempts and completing 5 of 8 passing attempts for 81 yards. Smith and Dequan Hughes scored touchdowns for Grace.

The Golden Eagles took the opening kickoff and immediately drove 60 yards in 11 plays to take the early lead. Smith raced 12 yards on the Eagles first play from scrimmage to give them a first down at the Basin 48. After grinding out another first down at the Basin 25, Will Slack burst through for 13 yards to the Basin 10. Two plays later Hughes carried the final 9 yards for the score. The PAT was good and with 7:51 left in the first quarter the Eagles were on the board and held a 7-0 lead. Both teams failed to sustain a drive on their next possessions and the first quarter ended with Grace on top 7-0. But the Cougars would sustain their first scoring drive which began on their own 30 near the end of the first quarter and which carried over into the second quarter.

Boggs hit Spargo for 30 yards to the Grace 40 and Brown ran for 7 and 18 to give Basin a first down at the Eagle 15. On the first play of the second quarter Brown ran for 12 to the 3 but a bad snap resulted in a 12 yard loss on the next play. Boggs hit Spargo with a 12-yard pass to put Basin back to the 3 and on the next play Brown ran it in for the score. The PAT was blocked and with 10:11 left in the half the score was 7-6 Grace. After an exchange of possessions, Basin struck quickly to take a one touchdown lead. After a short punt went out of bounds on the Grace 38, Boggs hit Nicholson with a 38-yard bomb for the score. The 2-point PAT was good on a pass from Boggs to Nicholson and with 4:23 left in the half the Cougars held a 14-7 lead. Grace took the ensuing kickoff and began an 11 play, 65-yard drive that would tie the score just before halftime. Smith was the main force on this drive as he ran for 50 of the 65 yards. His runs of 8, 17, and 20 yards set the Golden Eagles up with a first down on the Basin 15. A 7 yard run by Hughes pub the ball on the Basin 8 and 4 plays later Smith negotiated the final yard for the touchdown. The PAT was successful and with 20.9 second left in the half the score was tied at 14.

Basin began the third quarter with a 10-play 71 yard drive, highlighted by a 46 yard sprint by Nicholson. Unfortunately, the drive bogged down on the Grace 7 yard line and a field goal attempt was unsuccessful. Grace was forced to punt on their next possession and the Cougars took possession on their own 39. The first 2 plays went nowhere for Basin, but on the next play Boggs spotted Spargo down the right sideline and hit him with a perfect over the outside shoulder pass. Spargo did the rest and the Cougars were up to stay. The PAT was good and Basin led 21-14 with 2:55 left in the third quarter. The next Grace drive was thwarted on the Basin 38 when Nicholson picked off Smith’s pass. After a big pass play of 58 yards on their next possession the Eagles were stopped again when Dakota Sosebee pounced on a Grace fumble at the Basin 22. After a Basin punt, Grace was stopped again when Aaron English picked off a Smith pass at midfield, and 2 plays later Boggs hit Justin Vasquez over the middle and the catch and run resulted in a 50 yard score for the Cougars. The PAT made it 28-14 with 7:20 left in the game. On the ensuing kickoff the Eagles fumbled and Chris Phelan pounced on the loose pigskin to all but seal the victory.

Homecoming activities at halftime included the introduction of freshman representatives Jessica Schofield and Raven Ross, sophomore representatives Jessica Allen and Amber Dillard, junior representatives Tylan Boring, Rheagan Chamaty, and Samantha Roberson, and senior representatives Lindsey Brackett, Dhemi-Ray Collins, Tristen Hedden, and Caitland Hyatt. Lindsey Brackett was crowned 2012 homecoming queen by reigning 2011 homecoming queen Haley Buchanan.