The Dragons notched their first home win of the season as they hosted the Firth Cougars in their Friday night football matchup on September 19, 2025.  The late addition to their schedule due to Wendell canceling their varsity games proved to be a great move for the MHS giving them a win they needed to redirect their course after two tough losses.

The Cougars jumped off to a strong start, stringing together a scoring drive after the Dragons kicked off to start the game.  The drive was slow, but consistent with 15 plays to put the first touchdown on the scoreboard.  Firth’s possession took up a majority of the first quarter, giving Malad time to move down the field but not enough to complete the drive before the clock expired.

The start to the second quarter saw them attempt to complete the drive but the pressure of the Cougar defense made it difficult to connect on their passes or make any gains running, eventually ending the drive with a turnover on downs.  

Starting on the 23 yard line, Firth took possession of the ball working towards Malad territory.  Matt Briscoe interrupted their well executed play as he reached out to bat the laser pass sent midfield to the Cougar receiver.  The Dragon defense forced a hurried pass on the following play, putting the FHS team 4th and long and looking to punt.  

As the Cougar snap went high and long, the punter chasing it down.  He slipped as he reached out to scoop up the ball, bringing him down on the spot and setting up the Dragons at the 25 yard line.

On the first down, Easton Green pitched the football to Holden Tubbs to his right who took off for the sideline.  Seeing the defense mirroring him, he hesitated, allowing the defenders momentum to carry them passed before he bolted through the gap for the endzone, tying the score 6-6.  The MHS team went for the PAT field to put them ahead, 7-6.  

Mordecai Charles kicked off for Malad, booting the kick into the endzone to start the Firth drive on the 20 yard line.  A poor handoff between the Cougar quarterback and running back ended in a fumble, recovered by the Dragon defense.  

Malad gained their way to the endzone, a few yards at time.  Thanks to a number of well made blocks Drake Morrison, Briscoe, and Tubbs carried the football until they had finally made their way to the end zone for a second Dragon touchdown and extending their lead 13-6.

Charles sailed another beautiful kick to the Cougars, bouncing it over the receivers head to complicate his return.  This time starting at the 15 yard line, the Firth offense bobbled the football again, this time with a high pitch that landed in another fumble.  Parker Price recovered the football for Malad to put the offense inside the red zone for a third time that night.

Despite a penalty setting them back, it took only a few short downs for the Dragons to convert their defensive stop to an offensive score. Green stepped out of the pocket to throw, sending the pass down the middle of the field.  Ky Willie, coming on the scene from a wide route to the left, led his defender to the pass where dove to pocket the ball and complete the pass to put them on the 5 yard line. Morrison finished the drive off with a run up the middle, breaking through tackles before stepping into the endzone.  With a PAT field goal to follow, the Dragons were up 20-6.

Coming back after half time, the Cougars brought a little energy back to their game, scoring on their opening drive to narrow the gap 20-14.  Struggling on their own first drive of the half and allowing the score, it seemed that the MHS team had lost the momentum they had built in the second quarter.  A bobble of the kickoff return that resulted in a turnover, brought concerns of what the second half might be like.  But an interception on the very next play by Morrison was just the spark the Dragons needed to kick things back into gear.

Although the turnover didn’t result in another scoring drive for the Dragons, it took necessary time off the clock and kept the Cougar offense from another scoring drive in the third quarter.  

The Dragons added a fourth touchdown late in the game to cap off the score at 27-14.  Green made two big plays to finish the drive in the endzone, first as he ran a quarterback keeper, hesitating in the neutral zone as the Firth defensive line attempted to pull him down before blasting through the hole made by his blockers.  Morrison took the snap on the following play, pitching it back to Green who took the ball to the endzone.  Briscoe sailed his third of four field goal attempts between the goal posts to end the scoring for the night.

“I think this was a great team win,” shared Head Coach Brady Price.  He continued, “So many people did a lot of things that may not show up in a stat to get this win. We had Justin Toone out, and had two players step up on both sides of the ball to replace him, Braxden Kaufman at TE and Kurt Ward at DE. Both played great in his absence.” 

Speaking of the Cougars, Coach Price said, “We really took advantage of the mistakes and turnovers Firth had. This allowed us to start inside the 30 three times. And to top that off our offense took advantage and scored in those opportunities.”

Leading rusher for the Dragons was Tubbs with 82 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Chase Martin was the leading receiver with 20 yards.  Easton Green and Drake Morrison also added a touchdown each with Matt Briscoe going 3 for 4 on PATs.  On defense Tubbs led with tackles with 10.

“We thought this was a great performance to right the ship after the two tough losses we have had.  Next we are looking forward to the 1st conference game this week.”

The Dragons will hit the road with their next game in Soda Springs on Friday, September 22.