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Tooele • That first cold spell of the forthcoming winter sure can be tough to adapt to, especially if you're used to the warmer climes of Southern Utah.

But what really got to visiting Hurricane in a Class 3AA football quarterfinal Friday night, and made everything seem a whole bunch colder, was one wild kickoff return by Tooele's Ryan Brady.

It's not likely that anyone who saw Brady seemingly go down at midfield, race back over to the right sideline and shake off a couple more tackles and then finally break the grasp of one last Hurricane defender near the goal line will soon forget the critical 84-yard return.

Not only did it give the host Buffaloes a lead, it broke the only sustained momentum that Hurricane had mustered in what turned out to be a lopsided 35-7 Tooele victory.

With the win, the Buffs move into the state semifinals next Friday against Dixie at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"It feels wonderful," Brady said after the game. "We haven't been there in like 10 years."

Tooele (9-3) got on the board quickly, as a five-yard run by Brady capped the Buffaloes' first offensive possession for a 7-0 lead. Most of the rest of the first half was a stalemate, however, until Hurricane marched down the field in the last four minutes before intermission.

For the visitors, the 92-yard drive that ended with a 27-yard touchdown pass from Josh Parker to Kyle Williams and evened the score was everything one could want.

"That's the kind of drive we want to see, that's the kind of drive we want to make our trademark," Hurricane coach Steve Pearson said.

But then came the kickoff back to Tooele with 58 seconds left in the second quarter. By the time Brady traversed the Buffs' home field from side to side and end zone to end zone for a 14-7 lead, the wind had just gone out of the sail of the visiting Tigers.

"That got momentum on their side and it stayed for the second half," Pearson said.

"I've played for some great coaches up at Utah and they always said, 'Players make plays,' " said Tooele coach Kyle Brady, who is also Ryan's big brother. "He's been out with a shoulder injury for a little while and we needed a big play there. He got us going into halftime with our heads up."

After stopping the first drive of Hurricane (6-5) in the third quarter, Tooele then took advantage of a short punt and quickly drove 50 yards for a 10-yard run by Lincoln Powers to make the score 21-7.

With 5:12 remaining in the third, Powers again scored — this time on a 27-yard run — to extend the lead to three touchdowns. One final tally came in the fourth quarter when Demetrius Smith found paydirt on a run from 30 yards out.

"I'm proud of these kids and what they're doing. My first year, we were oh-and-10, and then one-and-nine the next year," said Kyle Brady, now in his fifth year as the Buffaloes' coach. "It's taken awhile for us to get here, but I think we're building a program instead of one that's going to be here for one or two years." —

Storylines

R All three of the featured running backs in Tooele's offense — Ryan Brady, Lincoln Powers and Demetrius Smith — score on touchdown runs.

• Hurricane ties the game at 7-7 after a 92-yard drive just before halftime.

• Tooele makes the deadlock a very temporary matter when Ryan Brady races 84 yards on the ensuing kickoff to regain the lead.