The Friday night lights were one once again as the Dragon football team hosted the American Falls Beavers for their second home game of the season.  Under the lights, the MHS team was able to string together a number of successes but it wasn’t enough to outplay the 4A Beavers, losing 6-36.

Kicking off to American Falls, the Malad defense came out strong to put a quick stop to the Beavers opening drive.  Starting at the 30 yard line, American Falls hoped for a run up the middle but linebacker Holden Tubbs came running in hot to make the stop for a short 1 yard gain.  AF moved the ball on their second down with a short pass before Ryan Jensen got the tackle.  On down 3, the Beavers attempted a run up the middle but the Dragon defense not only made it impossible for them to gain any ground, but forced a fumble to turn the ball over.

The Malad offense took the field for their first drive of the game but found the American Falls line difficult to break through.  Working their running game, the Dragons struggled to round the corner and break past the neutral zone to make any gains.  Forced to go out on the fourth down, Brady Showell punted for Malad, bouncing the ball just short of the end zone, putting AF on the 1 yard line to begin their offensive push.

The Dragon defense once again held the Beavers from moving the chains down the field.  Allowing only small gains on the first and second down, it was the third down that stopped the Beavers in their tracks.  Looking to run the ball up the middle, the AF quarterback began moving through the line and just as suddenly, Justin Toone was there to trip him up and take him down.  With far too many yards to advance on a single down and in favorable position for the Dragon offense, the Beavers opted to punt.

Beginning at the 45 yard line, the Malad offense took position.  Setting up on the right side of the ball, running back Dawsyn Peterson came past the quarterback for the handoff.   With the ball tucked in, Peterson turned to run down field with room to move made by blockers Tubbs and Trevor Allen.  Pushing hard for a solid gain, it took four defenders to finally stop the run.  Attempting the same play on the down 2, the Beavers caught on in a hurry, allowing only a marginal gain for the Dragons.  Looking to change things up, Malad called for a pass play that unfortunately came up too short to be completed.  

Moving to punt, Showell called the snap and booted the ball into the backfield only to have the play called back for a defense penalty.  Setting up for a punt again, Showell called for the ball again, but instead of stepping into the kick, Showell tucked the ball under and headed downfield.  The Beavers didn’t sit on their heels long as they recognized the Dragon’s hope for a first down.  They began pushing Showell to the outside, forcing him out of bounds just inches from the line of scrimmage.  

American Falls still struggled to make any offensive gains as they took possession of the ball.  On the first down, the snap went high, dropping to the ground.  Before the Dragons could claim the fumble, the Beavers jumped on it, taking a significant loss on the play.  With too many yards to gain on the drive, American Falls turned over the ball on downs again.

While the opening quarter of the game showed promise for both the Malad offense and defense, the second quarter brought challenges for the team on both sides of the ball.  AF came into the second fired up and ready to go, scoring on their next five consecutive drives, putting the MHS team down 0-36.

The second half saw the Dragons return to a strong defensive and offensive game.  On a quarterback keep, Showell began driving up the middle, pushing the pile of defenders when he suddenly broke free.  With room to run, he made his way to the Dragon goal line.  Coming up short of the red zone on the run, Malad kept pushing up the middle for small gains that kept the drive alive.  Near the 15 yard line, Showell kept the ball on another quarterback keep and headed down the field.  His teammates ahead of him battled the defensive line to block and create a gap just in time for him to run through.  Free of the defense, Showell turned up the speed to run into the endzone for a Malad touchdown.

The fourth quarter saw even greater gains for the Dragons as the offense settled into a series of ground gaining plays.  Most notably were the stream of short passes to march their team down the field.  Unfortunately though, their drives continued to come up short of the endzone, leaving them 6-36 as the final buzzer rang out.