On Oct. 30, last Friday, the Cowboys secured their first win of the 2020 football season defeating Hawaii 31-7.
Temperatures reaching lows of 22 degrees meant fans were bundled up and huddled together for the home opener against the Rainbow Warriors.
“It was okay for the first quarter or so, and some hot chocolate kept my toes moving for a second. But the combo of the wind and not being huddled among other students made me lose some morale by halftime,” said Ethan Gonda, a UW senior who watched the game from the student section.
According to UW COVID-19 precautions, rows of students were separated by six feet allowing for social distancing protocols to be followed.
“There were still a lot of students. There were two covered rows for every open one, but it was still packed. It still seemed pretty full,” said Luke Gluhosky, a UW senior who also attended the game.
The game was a true test of the Cowboys as they were without starting quarterback Sean Chambers, who broke his leg at Nevada on Oct. 24. This injury has effectively ended his season and marks the third time in his career that he sustained a season ending injury.
The other injuries included a knee injury in the final five games of the 2019-20 season and a broken right tibia in 2018.
“It is a shame to see a young player’s career continually be sidelined by injuries year after year. It is really hard to watch all the emotion that he displayed after being injured on the first drive. You hate to see it and I hope he recovers soon,” said Meredith Hoerman, a business major at UW.
Sean Chambers was replaced with redshirt freshman Levi Williams who captured fan’s hearts last season when he filled in for Chambers after his injury.
Williams started slow, almost seemingly trying to get his feet under him. But as the game went on, he gradually found his confidence and went on to complete 9 passes out of 18 attempts for 112 yards.
But it was Wyoming’s running game that truly defeated the Rainbow Warriors. Xazavian Valladay and Trey Smith combined for 252 yards and 4 touchdowns totaling 28 of Wyoming’s 31 total points on 52 carries.
Also, of note is John Hoyland, the true freshman kicker for the Cowboys who continued his career in the brown and gold with one made field goal out of two attempts.
Hoyland was originally the backup placekicker but got the call to start when Luke Glassock was injured leading up to Wyoming’s Oct. 24 game against Nevada.
Hoyland was named the Mountain West’s special teams’ player of the week for that performance in which he made all four field goals he attempted.
All of the above players combined for a dominant performance against Hawaii that saw them control the ball for 38 minutes out of the total 60-minute game. This allowed the Cowboys to win the Paniolo Trophy for the first time since 2018 when Hawaii defeated the Cowboys 17-13.
The Paniolo Trophy is named after the Hawaiian word for ‘Cowboy’ as both states have a history rooted in the subject.
“It is a cool element to add to an already fun game between the teams. It just makes it that much more special,” said Hoerman.
The Cowboys next game is the long awaited 2020 Border War with the Colorado State University Rams on November 5 in Fort Collins, Co.
