The Emery Spartans scored 22-unanswered second half points to top the pesky Union Cougars 29-7 Friday night on homecoming in Castle Dale.
Logan Cox broke a 7-7 tie with an 80-yard kick off return for a touchdown to open the third quarter on a reverse from Eastern Gordon. From that point on the Spartans held control and never let up in a solid second half performance.
“We challenged the kids at half time and gave them a little bit of a chewing, and they responded,” said head coach Jon Faimalo. “Offensively we started clicking and every drive we were moving positively and we scored.”
Cox scored one other touchdown on a four yard run and gathered 83 total yards on 17 carries. Zac Jorgensen completed 7-12 passes for 93 yards and delivered a 26-yard touchdown strike to Kolton Butler in the fourth quarter to put the game away for good.
Derek Justice hauled a team best three catches, accumulating 25 yards through the air. Kobe Faimalo provided a second option for Cox out of the backfield with 34 yards off of only six rushes.
Union quarterback Cole Bertoch finished 10-22 for 80 yards and contributed to the team’s only touchdown as he found running back Sean Thompson for a 10-yard score. The Cougars were held to just 193 yards of total offense, while giving up 215 defensively.
The loss for Union puts them in a difficult spot, now two games out of the fourth and final playoff seed with only two games to play. Both Union and Carbon are winless, while every other team has at least two victories in the division.
The win for Emery improves the team to 2-1 and moves them into a three-way tie with Grantsville and Juan Diego for second place in the 3A North. Friday the Spartans will host Grantsville in a game that will give the region standings more clarity.
“Grantsville is a tough team that likes to spread it out and they have athletes that can run,” said Faimalo. “We’ve got to figure out how we’re going to cover their speed and offensively we got to continue to click.”
Listen to coach Faimalo’s complete post game interview here: