Grantsville shut out against No. 2-ranked Wasatch in opening round of 3A playoffs

It took Wasatch much longer the second time around to control the game against Grantsville, but in the end the Wasps prevailed by a similar margin defeating the Cowboys 27-0 in the opening round of the 3A state football playoffs Friday at Heber City.

The two teams opened the season against each other back on Aug. 17 at Heber City with Wasatch winning 37-8. But on Friday the Cowboys stayed in the game much longer against the No. 2-ranked Wasps with Wasatch leading by only 13-0 at intermission compared to the 24-0 halftime margin they held in the first game.

"We thought we held our own this time around," said coach Tony Cloward. "Wasatch is a great football team. Even their coaching staff told us after the game how much we had improved since that first game."

"Our kids played hard the entire game. We had a great week of preparation and for the most part we were able to take  (Jacob) Salazar out of the game," Cloward said.

Salazar is one to the state's top five rushers in all classifications and the Cowboys held him to 126 yards instead of the 250 he racked up in the first game.  The Cowboys were also able to slow down tight end Jeffrey Tukuafu which forced quarterback Taylor Woodruff to find other ways to beat the Cowboys — and he did. The senior quarterback threw for  228 yards and two touchdowns.

"A lot is said about Wasatch's offense, but their defense is completely underrated," Cloward said. During the season Wasatch shut out 4A Springville 35-0 and allowed only one touchdown against Ben Lomond and one touchdown against Uintah.

Things could have been worst in the first half for the Cowboys, but the defense dug in when the Wasps threatened to score touchdowns early in the game. Instead, the Wasps kicked two field goals.

On their first drive the Wasps drove to the Grantsville 3 yard line, but on third-and-goal a blitzing Austin Gumucio tackled the Wasatch ball carrier for a three-yard loss and Wasatch settled for a 23-yard field goal.

The game may have been even tighter at intermission if Grantsville could have converted on a fourth-and-two early in the second quarter at the Cowboy 35. But a fake punt came up inches short which gave the home team excellent field position in Grantsville territory. From there it took the Wasps six plays to score the first touchdown of the game with 8:57 until intermission. Salazar gained 12 yards on two plays and then a dead-ball foul gave the Wasps the ball at the Grantsville 5 yard line. Woodruff then connected on a pass to Benjamin Gardner for the first touchdown of the game.

On its next series Wasatch drove from its own 18 to the Grantsville 11 thanks to a 43-yard pass completion, but penalties and good pass defense by Grantsville thwarted the drive and the Wasps came up empty. On one play, Grantsville's Jackson Kelly reached out and knocked down a pass which would have kept the drive alive.

Grantsville was able to get inside Wasatch territory toward the end of the first half on a pair of completions from Logan Paulich to Ty Davis and Tyson Hutchins, but the drive stalled.

Late in the first half the Wasps threatened again, but the Grantsville defense kept them out of the end zone and Wasatch settled for a second field goal to lead 13-0 at intermission.

The Wasps drove 72 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter to give them plenty of breathing room. Woodruff and Salazar both churned out long runs with Salazar culminating the drive with a 4-yard TD run.

Early in the fourth quarter  Wasatch finished off the scoring in the game with a 52-yard TD pass to wide open Ethan Smith to make it 27-0 with 10:38 left in the game. After the final score, both teams allowed younger players to finish out the contest.

Although it was a beautiful sunny day for football, Grantsville receivers seemed to have a hard time holding onto the ball against the Wasps. About eight dropped passes thwarted Grantsville drives.

"Dropped balls have kind of been our nemesis this year," Cloward said. "We've tried to open it up, but you live-and-die by the pass. It's helped us win some games, but it's held us back as well. That's why we didn't rely on the pass early in the season."

The Cowboys finished off the year with a 3-8 record overall facing the tops teams in the state and a 2-3 mark in region action. Grantsville was shut out three times and scored only one touchdown per game in five of its games. Grantsville scored 17 unanswered points in a rally to defeat Bear River 23-20 at Bear River and followed that game with another come-from-behind victory at Ben Lomond 27-26.

"We've been plagued with injuries this year, but we didn't want to make excuses," Cloward said. "The kids worked hard every week and each week we were going up against bigger, stronger, faster teams. We had a mean schedule. I have a lot of admiration for this group of kids. The came to work every Monday and gave it their all."

Regarding any criticism from fans Cloward said the team worked through it. "Everybody is an armchair quarterback. You have to have thick skin to be in this business. But they (critics) aren't with us everyday or know what we're going through. We just need to keep working. Eventually we'll get some of that size and speed working in our favor."

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com