Mistakes, turnovers and penalties proved to be the undoing of Wyoming Friday in the Division IV football regional championships.

SET AS WALLPAPER Click on right width for your monitor, then right click to Set As Wallpaper (Brandi Stafford photos)

Wyoming's P.J. Pope 800 | 1024

Anthony Wright. 800 | 1024

Naim Abdullah on pass coverage. 800 | 1024

        Led by the five-touchdown performance of quarterback Dustin Strayer and taking advantage of Wyoming's miscues, Valley View defeated the Cowboys 41-23 at Fairfield Stadium.

        “The biggest difference was that we got some people hurt and didn't have the depth to replace them,” Wyoming coach Bernie Barre said. “I think we played them much tougher than they expected.”

        Leading 23-21 at halftime, Wyoming made three critical mistakes in the second half.

        The first came after the Cowboys stopped Valley View on their first possession in the third quarter. Wyoming's Eric Dantzler fumbled the punt and Valley View recovered at its own 49.

        On the ensuing play, Strayer unloaded a 51-yard pass to John Longworth for a TD, giving Valley View a 27-23 lead.

        “That was big and they took advantage of it,” Barre said. “But clipping and holding penalties also hurt us.”

        Driving for what would have been a go-ahead touchdown, Wyoming was called for a clipping infraction that nullified a pass play that would have carried the Cowboys to the Spartan 33. Wyoming ended up punting.

        Early in the fourth quarter, Cowboys quarterback John Gale threw a short pass to P.J. Pope, who went 50 yards for a touchdown. But a holding call nullified the play and Wyoming turned over the ball on downs.

        Valley View turned both miscues into touchdowns to break open what had been a close game.

        The final statistics don't reflect the final score.

        Wyoming gained 388 yards of total offense, led by Pope's game-high 180 rushing yards on 36 carries.

        Wyoming had 18 first downs compared to 13 for Valley View, and controlled the ball for 32:23 compared to 15:37 for the Spartans.

        Strayer, who is being recruited by Stanford, completed 10 of 13 passes for 253 yards and five touchdowns.

        Another Cowboys mistake that changed the momentum came during the final 23.6 seconds before halftime, when they allowed Valley View to drive 70 yards for a touchdown in two passing plays. That cut the deficit to 23-21 at the intermission.

        “When (defensive back) Anthony (Wright) went out the first series, we had to play an inexperienced player back there and they took advantage,” Barre said of the Spartans. “That touchdown shifted the momen tum.”

        Defense almost was a forgotten element in the first half. Wyoming racked up 282 yards while Valley View rushed for 31 yards and passed for 156.

        Strayer completed six of nine passes for three touchdowns by halftime.

        Pope accounted for 151 yards rushing on 151 yards, giving him a 6.3 average, and completed one of his two passes for 27 yards in the first half.

        Another interesting statistic was time of possession: Wyoming controled the ball for 18:38 in the first half, compared to 5:22 for Valley View..

        Wyoming came ready to play.

        After returning the open ing kickoff to the 16, the Cowboys scored in eight plays, with quarterback John Gale throwing a 14-yard pass to Anthony Wright for a touchdown with 8:07 remaining in the first quarter.

        A pass interception by Ryan Shelton on Valley View's first possession set up a 25 yard field goal by Drew Kaszubski with 3:26 remaining in the first quarter.

        On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, Strayer combined with Ryan Phillips on a 67-yard TD pass and followed it with a two-point conversion and bring Valley View to 10-8.

        The Spartans took a 14-10 lead early in the second quarter on another Strayer TD pass, but Wyoming scored two more times to make it 23-14 with 30.9 second remaining before halftime.

        At this point, Wyoming's inability to defend the pass took its toll. Strayer completed a pass to Bryan Ritzie that carried the Spartans to the Cowboys six. On the next play, John Longworth scored on a pass from Strayer, cutting Wyoming's lead to 23-21 at halftime.

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        Valley View ....... 8  13   6  14—41

        Wyoming ....... 10  13   0   0—23

        W—Wright 14 run (Kaszubski kick)

        W—Kaszubski 25 field goal

        V—Phillips 67 pass from Strayer (Streit pass from Collins)

        V—Longworth 10 pass from Strayer (run failed)

        W—Pope 3 run (Kaszubski kick)

        W—Pope 1 run (Kaszubski wide)

        W—Longworth 6 pass from Strayer (Boyd kick)

        V—Phillips 51 pass from Strayer (run failed)

        V—Longworth 26 pass from Strayer (Boyd kick)

        V—Strayer 2 run (Boyd kick)

        Records: Valley View 12-1, Wyoming 10-3

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