High school football: Colts looking to end a 21-year drought

Since becoming a state football power in the last few years, Cottonwood has won region championships and played in memorable games on the turf at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

But the Colts haven't had the chance to overcome one barrier since their breakthrough season in 2004: beat Skyline. Cottonwood hasn't defeated the Eagles since 1988 and has a 4-30 overall record in the series, but the two teams haven't played since 2004.

"History is against us," said Colts coach Cecil Thomas. "We've been on the opposite side of that for a long time. We have kids in our program whose older brothers went through butt-whippings by Skyline."

Cottonwood hopes to turn the tide in what's shaped up to be the most important game in Region 2 this season. The Colts and Eagles are the only teams in Region 2 with unbeaten league records and that are above .500 overall. It's early in the season to call this a region championship game, but that's basically what it is.

"As far as region goes, it's a huge game," said Skyline quarterback Chase Dunford. "Whoever wins this game has a good shot at the region championship. Hopefully we can come out and play Skyline football."

The Eagles will certainly have to play at a high level to win on Cottonwood's home field tonight.

The Colts have steadily improved since losing to Alta in Week 1. Cottonwood reeled off three straight victories and played Bingham toe-to-toe for a half last week. The Miners pulled away in the second half, but it still showed how far the Colts have come since their season-opener.

"Our goal is to make sure we get better each week, and I feel like we've done that since Week 1," Thomas said. "It's like I tell the kids, we want to be peaking and playing our best football at the end of the year, not at the start of the year. We've gone through some growing pains, but the kids are starting to get it and come together. I feel good about where we're at now."

One big reason for Cottonwood's improvement is the play of running back Nadan Hosea. He has rushed for more than 100 yards in three straight games and scored five touchdowns in those games.

Skyline has also gotten much better since early in the year. After a surprising loss to neighborhood rival Olympus, the Eagles have won three straight games. Skyline averaged 42.3 points in those three games while getting big plays from Dunford, fullback Alge Brown and receiver Brian Orr.