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After two weeks of rest, the Sabercats were back in action Saturday in Emmett, ID where they faced the Treasure Valley Spartans in the second meeting of the season for the two rivals. The second matchup, however, had little in common from the lopsided first other than the resulting victor as the Sabercats won their fourth game of the season.
The 62-6 Sabercats victory in April was quickly forgotten in Saturdays matchup as both teams came out fighting. The Sabercats were able to find the endzone first on a 18 yard run by Tyler Collingwood and after a botched snap for the PAT, Jarod Briggs turned the broken play into a 2-point conversion by finding Nate Pickens open in the endzone. The Spartans answered right back with two touchdowns of their own taking the lead at 14-8. Before the half was over, Collingwood hit Shawn King for the touchdown and the Sabercats took a 15-14 lead.
In the 3rd quarter, Cody Bates added two touchdowns on 35 and 19 yard pass completions from Collingwood who also ran another in for 20 yards as the third quarter expired. The Spartans scored once keeping themselves in the game as the 4th quarter began with a 34-20 Sabercat lead.
The Spartans would find the endzone one more time in the game. However, a 12 yard scoring rush by Kyle Hogg and a 45 yard kick return for a touchdown by Bates would seal their fate and the Sabercats would walk away with the 46-26 victory.
"The first half was a very sluggish start for my team and I knew it would be," Head Coach Dallas Hoffman said. "We had three weeks off and coming back to a game with that much time off was hard. I told the team at halftime that the first half reflected their rusty play. Now that they had gotten it out of the way, it was time to play some serious football, and the second half showed."
The Sabercats are now 4-3 and tied with the Idaho Matadors and Idaho Falls Mustangs for third place in the AA Central Division and a possible wild card birth to the playoffs. With only one game remaining in the regular season (@ Arco), the Sabercats have already secured the first winning season in team history. With a victory next weekend and the occurrence of necessary tie-breaking precautions, they could also find themselves in their first ever playoff game.
For statistics from this game, click here. |
