Coming into the third week of the season, Cottonwood was expected to dominate against American Fork. The Colts did just that as they earned a 40-20 win.

Although Cottonwood has struggled in the first half of games thus far this season, the Colts looked sharp in the first half against the Cavemen, as they capitalized on several American Fork errors to take a 26-3 lead before the break.

"Our goal was to come out and execute in the first quarter," said Cottonwood head coach Josh Lyman. "We wanted to hold them on defense and then score, and that's what we did. We came out and put points on the board."

Despite committing many errors of its own, including penalties that cost the Colts 60 yards of offense, Cottonwood was able to find the end zone three times in the first half.

The Colts offense was led by quarterback Cooper Bateman, who threw for 161 yards and a touchdown. Nadan Hosea was the other big player, rushing for 77 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.

"We did good. We came out good and started strong," Batemen said. "It was a disappointing second half, though. We needed to come out and put the game away, and we didn't do it."

Lyman described his team's performance as sloppy, as a pass-interference penalty and a personal foul on the Cottonwood defense allowed the Cavemen to score their third-quarter touchdown.

The Colts had 15 penalties that added up to 160 yards, a problem the team knows it will have to correct to be successful in Region 2 play.

"We had way too many penalties tonight," Lyman said. "Going into to region, we can't have that many penalties and play the way we did, or we won't get many wins. We have to play smarter. Our goal is to have no more than 50 yards in penalties a game."

Despite the penalties, the Colts were able to put two touchdowns on the board in the second half: a 45-yard pass interception by Ben Heimuli and a 48-yard punt return by Robert Beveridge.

The Colts are now 3-0 on the season, and they start region play with a game at Murray next week.

"It's still early in the season and our goal right now is a region championship," Lyman said. "This has been a great three-game tuneup, and I think our kids are ready for region."