METGOT: STEELERS EDGE COWBOYS 13-12

By Nick Akimoto

The Tatuha Steelers outlast the Southern Cowboys during their Sunday Metgot game at Eagles Field. The young duo of Cayden Espinal and Patience Ezra helped lift their team to a dusty. 13-12 win. With 126 yards and two touchdowns, Ezra was there to receive Espinal’s deep ball and take it to the house. 

The Cowboys’ Tristan Fernandez and Matthew Cooley would punch in two big rushing touchdowns, but a failed after-point conversion would ultimately allow the Steelers to walk away with the Metgot win. 

“I just tried to get the ball to my teammate,” said Espinal. The soft-spoken quarterback made big plays throughout the day. With a relentless Cowboys pass rush hounding him down, Espinal managed to stay upright and keep the offense moving. 

“And a cloud of dust…” 

In spite of the big offense from the Steelers’ pass game, the game was a close brawl that could have gone either way. 

The Cowboys kicked off the match by marching down the field with their run game. The Cowboys’ big tight end/fullback Cooley bruised his way through the Steelers front line to pick up chunk yardage. The Cowboys’ coaches then called on Fernandez to run a QB keeper to the right. Fernandez tightroped his way into the endzone thanks to a key block from running back Tifan Kanas, who led the way for the score. A failed extra point attempt, however, kept their lead to 6-0. 

The Steelers weren’t able to respond immediately as the Steelers took a second to get their air-game going. Running back Maria Flores helped move the ball up in the meanwhile, in between Espinal pass attempts to his wide receivers. On the other end, Steelers’ defensive adjustments kept the Cowboys’ offense limited, preventing them from scoring another touchdown. 

On their next go-around on offense, Espinal and Ezra finally connected for a 45-yard passing touchdown. As Ezra beat his man down the field, Espinal launched the ball threw the air straight into his receiver’s hand. The pass had ignited the Steelers offense, but they failed to convert their extra point attempt. Both teams went into halftime tied at 6-6. 

A Game of Inches 

Coming back from half, things started to heat up as the sun beamed down. The Cowboys stuck to the run game on their first drive. Tristen Fernandez kept the ball on the ground as he would juke his way through Steelers defenders. He would be kept from the endzone, however, as the Steelers’ defensive backs, Maria Flores and Kyler Tiong, made crucial stops in the backfield. Both finished the day with two tackles for loss and key touchdown saving tackles throughout the day. 

On the other side, the Cowboys limited the Steelers offense as well. Brayden Taimanglo ended a Steelers drive almost singlehandedly as he ripped the ball straight out from the

ballcarrier and ran it the other way. The Cowboys saw another huge turnover as Nolan-Jase Blas denied another Espinal-Ezra connection by picking it out of the air. His efforts kept the Steelers out of the end zone, by the end of the third quarter, neither team had separated themselves. 

When the Steelers started their first drive of the fourth quarter, Espinal motioned Ezra out to the slot. On the snap, Ezra ran a slant through the middle of the defense and Espinal delivered the ball straight to his hands. Once he secured the catch, Espinal was gone for the endzone. During their point after attempt, the Steelers had Kyler Tiong run it to the outside to put the Steelers up 13-6. 

With little time left in the game, the Cowboys understood that if they were going to stay in this game, they needed a score. With the game on the line, the Cowboys put the ball in the hands of Cooley. On the snap, Cooley absorbed some contact and stayed upright as he trudged his way through the Steelers defense. After dropping his hip to stun the linebacker, he then bounced to the outside and sprinted for the corner of the field. As Cooley approached the front pylon, both players collided as the crowd awaited the ref’s call. After a brief silence, the sideline judge raised his hands to signal a Cowboys touchdown. 13-12. 

While the Cowboys had managed to close the lead, they needed to score their extra point attempt if they wanted to even things up. At the goal line, the Cowboys called another Fernandez QB-keeper. A horse-collar tackle penalty brought the Cowboys a bit closer. With the game on the line, the Cowboys called a QB dive, but the Steelers remained strong, denying them the extra point. 

The Steelers held on to the lead for the remainder of the game, keeping the Cowboys from mounting a comeback. With one last defensive stop, the Steelers would manage to survive the day and secure their 13-12 Metgot win. 

The Steelers’ Metgot would be the program’s lone win of the day. The Cowboys won the Manha division game 21-7 and the Matua division game 39-0.

WEEK 3 RESULTS

MANHA

Packers 26, Raiders 0

Eagles 12, Angels 0

Cowboys 21, Steelers 7

Outlaws 35, Crusaders 0

METGOT

Packers 25, Raiders 0

Angels 12, Eagles 8

Steelers 13, Cowboys 12

Outlaws 38, Crusaders 0

MATUA

Packers 28, Raiders 0

Angels 22, Eagles 8

Cowboys 31, Steelers 0

Outlaws 26, Crusaders 0