The MHS football team faced their first conference opponent of the 2025 season as they took on the Cardinals in Soda Springs on Friday, September 26.  It wasn’t until late in the second quarter that the Dragons made their way into the endzone, adding a touchdown in the third and fourth quarters to claim the win 21-6.

Malad kicked off to begin their first district game with Soda Springs.  The Cardinal offense struggled against the kick and strong MHS defenders.  On their third play of the game, Soda Springs suffered a huge loss as Justin Toone and Braxton Kaufman sacked the Cardinal quarterback, setting them up for an eventual punt.  

Through the remainder of the opening quarter, the two teams made little headway towards the goal line, each turning over the ball and hoping the next drive would be more effective.  Soda Spring’s first down of the second quarter proved no better as the quarterback heaved a pass to the back of the endzone, right into the hands of Malad’s Easton Green.

Moving up to the 20 yard line to start their drive, the Dragons attempted to move the chains ahead but suffered penalties and insignificant gains, turning the ball over on downs.

The MHS defense took to the field again, and in just a few plays, forced another Cardinal turnover as Green caught a second interception.  

Ready to turn their defensive stop into an offensive score, Malad began marching down the field.  Running back Holdan Tubbs largely carried the ball for the Dragons, but only made the gains he did by the great blocking of his teammates ahead of him.  Just after receiving the handoff, Tubbs slipped through a timely made hole by Toone and Kurt Ward.  As he continued down field, Rydon Montgomery and Chase Martin continued to clear the way until Tubbs was tackled at the MHS 45 yard line.

Soda Springs unintentionally aided the Malad offense as they committed a number of penalties, including a pass interference as Ky Willie went up to catch a touchdown pass.  It took multiple attempts for the Dragons to finally break past the 15 yard line.  On fourth down, Green stepped back to pass, sailing the ball deep in the endzone.  Martin nailed the catch in the back of the endzone to give Malad the first score of the game and put them up 6-0.  Matt Briscoe booted the PAT through the field goal uprights to make it 7-0.

With only 43 seconds on the clock, the Cardinals made a successful drive down the field in just a few plays to score before the time expired.  Throwing a deep pass, the Soda Springs quarterback connected downfield with his receiver that was finally taken down at the 22 yard line.  Two plays later, the team tallied a touchdown of their own.  Faking a PAT field goal, the Cardinals attempted to run the ball in for two points but were thwarted with Malad’s quick defense.

The Cardinals went for an onside kick but it was the Dragons that scrambled to cover the ball and claim possession.  With the clock winding down, Malad completed just one snap of the ball before pausing for the half.

The MHS team received the kickoff as the game resumed into the third quarter.  Making only small gains, the Dragons turned over possession after an incomplete pass on the fourth down.  The Cardinals had similar luck on their opening drive of the second half, ending in a turnover on downs as well.  

Punting after their next unsuccessful drive, the MHS defense got set to hold the Soda Springs play.  After the snap, the defense swarmed the offensive line, pressuring the quarterback outside the protective pocket.  Needing to get rid of the ball, the Cardinal passer through the ball down field to what he thought was an open receiver, despite a number of Dragon defenders around him.  Just when it appeared the pass would be completed, Briscoe, who was coming up from behind, slipped ahead of the receiver to make the interception.

Feeding off the defensive momentum, the Dragon offense turned the gain into a scoring drive.  Green scampered ahead for a meaningful gain, followed by a first down by Briscoe.  Tubbs carried the ball ahead before Green made another first down with a quarterback keep.  Toone made a big catch to bring the Dragons into the red zone as he was taken down at the 10 yard line.  Willie completed the drive, running a slant route from the left, pocketing the bullet catch Green lasered into the endzone.  Briscoe put through a second PAT to bring the score to 14-6.

Starting at their own 32 yard line, the Cardinals began their attempt to move down the field.  Defensive end Toone rushed the quarterback, sacking him for a 12 yard loss at the 20 yard line.  Soda Springs attempted two long passes as they felt the pressure of both the clock ticking down and the significant yards needed to make a first down.  Coming out to play fourth and long to start the fourth quarter, the Cardinals punted possession to the Dragons.

Just when it appeared that Malad’s offense would go 4 downs and out, the MHS strung together a wild drive to add a final touchdown to their score.  Malad punted the ball deep into Cardinal territory, making their way downfield just as the receiver bobbled the catch, jumping on the free ball to keep possession of it.  

Deep in MHS territory, the Malad offense worked to move the chains down the field but found little success.  The Cardinal defense continued to bring the heat, pressuring Green into throwing a second interception of the night.  The big defender was making a dash down the field before being taken down and fumbled the ball.  Like a greased pig, the football squirted out and bounced around a number of times as players tried to claim possession.  After blowing the whistle to end the play, the officials unstacked the pile of players on the field, finding Malad on the ball claiming possession.

One down played and with another small gain, Green snapped the ball, stepping back to throw.  With his line and backs blocking to give him both space and time, the Malad QB hurled the ball downfield, connecting with Toone that had run down the center of the field, only stopping to turn and catch the ball before being tripped up for a Dragon first down.  A series of runs saw Malad knocking on the endzone once again, Tubbs eventually punching in a final touchdown for the night.  Briscoe rounded out the score to make it Malad 21, Soda Springs 6.  

WIth the game closing out, it seemed Soda Springs would have one final possession and attempt to score, but the Malad defense had other ideas as they pressured the ball.  Chucking the ball down field, the Cardinal QB sent the ball too close to Green who snagged the pass for a third interception of the night. 

Tallying up the efforts of the Dragon team, Tubbs led the Malad offense with 124 yards rushing and 1 touchdown.  Toone was the leading receiver with 51 yards.  Green went 6 for 10 with 116 yards passing, including 2 passing touchdowns received by Martin and Willie.  Briscoe went 3 for 3 on field goal PATs.  Defensively, the leading tackler for the Dragons was Kaufman with 7 tackles.

Commenting on the game, Head Coach Brady Price shared, “This was a great way to start off our conference play. I thought last week against Firth was a great team win, and this may have been even better!”

He continued, “The defense played really well this game. We limited Soda to less than 40 yards rushing and only gave up to big passes with one being a TD.  Our Secondary is playing great right now, had 4 picks this game including 3 from Easton. I really like where the team is right now.”

He concluded, “We have just a few things to clean up, but with the bye week coming up we will be looking forward to the final 3 games at home.”

MHS vs Soda Springs

21-6

Friday, September 26, 2025

PLAYER [TKL] [TFL] [FF] [FREC] [SACK] [INT] [PBU]

Holdan Tubbs 6 1

Chase Martin 5 1

Cam Bingham 3

Braxden Kaufman 7 2 1

Justin Toone 3 2 1 1

Easton Green 3

Trever Allen 1

Matt Briscoe 4 1

Parker Price 2 1

Oakley Maddox 2

Rydon Montgomery 2 1 1

Ky Willie 1 1

Team Totals 36 5 2 2 3 4 1

PLAYER [RUSH] [RUTD] [REC] [RETD]

Holdan Tubbs 124 1

Chase Martin 6 40 1

Ky Willie 25 1

Easton Green 6

Matt Briscoe 7

Justin Toone 13 51

Team Totals 156 1 116 2