Spartans kick off new season with win, loss

Murray High’s first two football games of the season resembled a Jekyll and Hyde movie. While the Spartans looked solid in defeating Cyprus in their season opener, the offense just couldn’t get on track the following week against upstart Granger, which improved to 2-0.

Murray opened with a 19-13 victory over Cyprus, as Christian Jensen rushed for 166 yards on 25 carries. Justin Adams threw for 116 yards, connecting with Rayce Bryan two times for 50 yards and Derrick Sanders once for 25 yards. Spencer Prestwich had a stellar all-around game with two rushes for 29 yards and two interceptions and six tackles on defense.

The game was tied 7-7 after one quarter before the Spartans pulled ahead 14-13 at halftime. The score remained the same until the fourth quarter, when Murray scored on a safety and field goal. It marked the second consecutive year Murray opened the season with a win, defeating Ogden 28-10 last year.

Defensively, the Spartans registered seven sacks. Dallas Howard had two sacks while Cody Swensen had 1.5, Dominic Casaus, Austin Novak, Nick Smart each had one and Bryan a half sack. Novak led the team with eight tackles and Sanders had seven stops for the Spartans.

The motivation, however, didn’t carry over to the Granger game, at least offensively. Playing in front of their home crowd, the Spartans trailed 14-0 at halftime after a scoreless first quarter. Court Adams returned a fumble for a touchdown in the third, but Granger answered back quickly.

Murray missed a golden opportunity to cut into the deficit when Granger intercepted a pass near its own goal line. The Spartans had negative rushing yards and one offensive first down for much of the game, as Jensen and Adams had difficulty on the ground and through the air.

The Spartans stood in good position to win their next game, Sept. 2 against Taylorsville. The Warriors, who started the season 0-2, had lost six straight games and 28 of their last 29 coming in. Taylorsville has lost to Copper Hills 27-18 and Hillcrest 35-7 this season.

Murray rallied to win last year’s meeting with Taylorsville 20-10, as Jensen rushed for 204 yards and two touchdowns. The Spartans trailed 10-7 at halftime before scoring 13 unanswered points.

Following the Taylorsville game, Murray was scheduled to conclude preseason Sept. 9 at Roy before opening Region 7 action against Skyline.