Cowboys Fall Short Against Broadus

The Culbertson Cowboys displayed great heart and spirit in their homecoming football loss against Broadus on Friday night, Sept. 18.

Despite injuries and inexperience, the Cowboys trailed by only a 28-20 margin after three quarters of play before falling by the 56-20 final.

“I’m definitely proud,” Culbertson coach Brian Manning said of his team’s effort. “There were definitely positives. It’s too bad but injuries happen.”

The Cowboys entered the contest missing several starters and then lost junior defensive end Canaan Boyd to an injury early in the game.

A bright spot for the Cowboys was certainly the play of quarterback Payton Perkins. The sophomore withstood several hard hits to rush for 157 yards and pass for 93 yards.

“He had a really good game,” Manning said. “Every time that the pocket broke down, he took off for yards.”

Broadus struck quickly as a double-pass play from Wyatt Gee to Solomon Bradley resulted in a 54-yard gain to the Culbertson three. On second down, Kyle Minow scored on a two-yard run.

The Hawks accounted for a 46-yard drive later in the first quarter. A three-yard run by Minow put Broadus ahead 12-0 with 5:46 left in the period.

The Cowboys, however, responded right back. Starting on their own 34, Culbertson marched down to the Broadus 31 on two runs by Perkins.

A second-down pass from Perkins to Kobe Nickoloff was good for 20 yards to the Broadus 16. On fourth down from the eight, Perkins rolled out and connected with senior Michael Pederson for a touchdown.

Perkins passed to James Kirkalde on the conversion to close the margin to 12-8.

After Culbertson’s defense forced the Hawks to punt, the Cowboys took over on their own 18. One of the highlights of the drive was Perkins recovering a bad snap and racing 19 yards to the 37 for a first down.

A pass to Nickoloff resulted in a 46-yard gain to the Broadus seven. Two plays later, Perkins reached the end zone on a nine-yard run to put the Cowboys up 14-12 with 8:57 left in the half.

Broadus regained the lead on an 18-yard pass play from Wyatt Gee to Minow with 6:43 remaining in the half.

The Hawks later scored on a 25-yard dash by Corbin Irish. Gee ran in the conversion for a 28-14 margin with 2:30 left in the half. The Cowboys ended the half on a high note when Perkins raced 60 yards for a touchdown on the half’s final play to cut the margin to 28-20.

After a scoreless third quarter, Broadus struck on a 28yard run by Irish for a 34-20 lead with 10:02 remaining.

The Hawks had another scoring threat going, but a hard hit by Nickoloff led to a fumble recovery by Pederson.

Broadus was able to increase its lead to 42-20 on a 39-yard run by Johnny Richards with 6:53 left.

The Hawks’ final two touchdowns came on six-yard run by Richards and a 23-yard pass from Cooper Zimmer to Eli Heacock.

The Cowboys travel to MonDak on Friday night. The Thunder are undefeated for the season.