At 7:30 pm this past Friday night, the lights were on, the seats were full, and with one swift kick of a football the season was officially underway. For Copper Basin and Polk County, the first game of the season has rekindled an old flame that still burns as bright as it ever has between these two county rivals. Though this rivalry has been going on for decades, a break between the two teams facing each other had been taken for around ten years. This game was the fifth since the contests have been back underway and Polk County was looking to sway the record back their way with it sitting at an even 2-2 at kickoff following Copper Basin’s wins last year and the year before.

       Polk County won the toss and elected to kick. That is all it took to get this game going. Once the ball was kicked off, both teams came out of the gate strong and aggressive and ready to play. Polk County’s defense held Basin and forced a punt on the opening drive. However, Basin’s defense was ready. Polk County’s offense tried to attack through the air but Basin’s Johnathon Johnson was ready and was rewarded with 6 points for his theft. Kick was good and Basin was in the lead. This would stay the score until the start of the second quarter. Polk had the ball on Basin’s side and on the first play of the quarter was able to break a run off the edge to make their mark on the board and bring the score to an even 7. After Polk’s kicker put one of many kickoffs into the endzone, the Cougars took the field. On their first offensive play, quarterback Joe Boggs reached out to Kadan Williams for an 80 yard touchdown to answer back and put the Cougars back up 13 – 7 after a missed extra point. Following this, both teams fought hard for yardage and their defenses fought to keep their ground. Polk found a receiver from just inside midfield and after the extra point pulled into the lead for the first time of the evening at 14-13. Before the half was through, the Wildcats were able to punch in a short yardage run for pay dirt and then capitalize on a fumble by the Cougars deep into their own territory a couple of series later. Polk returned the fumble to about midfield but a personal foul tacked on extra yards and put them in scoring position, which they took advantage of just before halftime. The boys went into the locker room with Basin trailing 28-13.

       Once the second half kicked off, Basin showed a new renewed strength as both teams set in for war. Yards were hard to come by and no one would find pay dirt until almost the end of the quarter. With under 2 minutes left the Cougars executed a beautiful reverse and Johnathon Johnson was able to find the endzone making the score 28-19 after an unsuccessful PAT. With 1:17 left in the quarter Polk took back possession. After some tough yards gained, the Wildcats were able to score with 7.9 seconds left in the third to widen the lead to 35-19. Polk would be able to put one more in the endzone during the fourth quarter to bring the final tally to 42-19.

       Basin’s biggest struggle on the night appeared to be their ability to stop the outside run. The defensive line did a good job with runs up the middle and the linebackers were able to keep any short passes in the middle knocked down or covered. Polk County did find a couple deep balls productive for the evening but the air attack is not what cost the Cougars the game. As for Basin’s offense, Joe Boggs showed that not only is his arm up for the challenge of hitting deep throws, his shoulder was up for it too as he was able to help move the ball himself on the ground when needed. Boggs, who is the starting quarterback and starting middle linebacker, is not one to be scared of contact. Sebastian Balliles looked good, especially with yards after contact. He was faced with having to prove that too often during the contest, though. The offensive line struggled to get movement up the middle on runs which forced Balliles to “meet and greet” Polk’s middle men too often. The standout on the evening though was Johnathon Johnson who had two trips to the house, one on offense and one on defense, and also contributed to keeping the deep ball by Polk from being too much of a threat on the night.

       Moving forward, Basin will have to be more solid on the edges in their run defense and they will need to have the big boys move forward more on their runs. Once this happens and the Cougars cut down on useless penalties and mental mistakes, they should be able to really hit their stride. Come out and watch your Copper Basin Cougars and they face another local rivalry across the state line this Friday in the Fannin County Rebels.