The Park City Miners were right on target offensively against the Grantsville Cowboys in their 57-28 playoff victory on Friday. Through 11 games this season the Miners have averaged 50 points per game and given up only 15 points per game. The Cowboys were strong on offense Friday and scored two more touchdowns than the Miners are accustomed to giving up.

“Our offense played really well against Park City and we’ve played well all season using a balanced attack of run and pass. We haven’t been as good on defense; I think that is where our lack of size and inexperience hurts us,” said Grantsville coach Tony Cloward. Only Juan Diego, Logan and American Leadership Academy scored more points than Grantsville did against Park City this year. But Park City scored 71 against American Leadership Academy. Park City led against Juan Diego after three quarters.

The Cowboys could not gain a first down on the opening possession and it only took two plays for Park City to score the first points of the game and lead 7-0.

The Cowboys’ second possession was much better with a good kick return by Bryce Ekins and strong running by quarterback Bridger Boman. But the drive was snuffed out at midfield when the Cowboys could not convert on fourth down.

Park City was soon on the scoreboard again thanks to a pair of long runs by quarterback Erik Walker and a seven-yard touchdown scamper by running back Dylan Chynoweth to make it 14-0 with 4:48 left in the first quarter.

The Cowboys got right back in the game on the next possession when Tyson Hutchins got past all defenders and hauled in a 65-yard touchdown pass from Boman to slice the Miners’ lead to 14-6. The Cowboys missed the PAT kick.

The track meet continued on the next possession with Walker scoring on a 23-yard run to push the score to 21-6.

The Cowboys moved the ball on the next series but didn’t get much on a punt which set up the Miners at midfield. Four running plays later and the Miners were back in the end zone on a 35-yard run by Chynoweth, plus a two-point PAT pass to make it 29-6. The Miners scored another TD right before half to head to the locker room up 36-6.

After the Miners increased the lead to 43-6 in the third quarter, the Cowboys went back to their play-maker Hutchins who hauled in a 40-yard pass down to the Park City 20. Boman made three strong runs and the drive was capped off by a power sweep to the left side and a 3-yard TD run by Hutchins with great blocking in the backfield. Boman ran in for a 2-point conversion to make the score 43-14 with 2:47 left in the third quarter.

The Cowboys were able to score two consecutive touchdowns when the defensive line was able to drop the Park City punter at his own 5 yard line on a punt attempt. Grantsville started to inch back into the game. Boman made a pair of strong runs and Kort Fonger went off tackle into the end zone to make it 43-20 early in the fourth quarter.

The Cowboys were unsuccessful on an onside kick which gave the Miners good field position. Walker broke through on a keeper and sprinted 55 yards to the end zone to up the lead to 50-20. An interception set up the Miners’ eighth touchdown of the game and pushed the their lead to 57-21.

Grantsville’s offense was not finished, however. The Cowboys started their next drive on their own 35 and Boman ran to the 50, then down to the Miners’ 34. He connected with Hutchins again on a pass and then fired to Hutchins in the end zone for a 10-yard TD. Boman hit Dalen Erickson on a 2-point conversion to make the final 57-28.

Hutchins ended the game with two receiving touchdowns and a running touchdown. “He had an incredible season,” Cloward said. “He did everything for us and other teams knew they had to defend him and couldn’t. Park City coaches had nothing but praise for Tyson. Hutchins had 159 yards receiving against the Miners.

“Our quarterback has been outstanding as well. On some of those passes today he had to scramble of find time to throw,” his coach said. “Bridger is a great athlete and has that never-die attitude.”

Numbers were thin this year for the Cowboys as they lost about six starters to Stansbury in addition to about five starters because of graduation. It turned out to be a re-building year for Grantsville with several sophomores and even a few freshmen playing on the varsity team. “We’re very optimistic about the future of Grantsville football with several skill players coming back including our quarterback. Our biggest challenge is that we lack size,” the coach said.

Grantsville made the state playoffs for the second consecutive year.

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com