Cottonwood boys basketball enjoys best preseason in several years
Jan 27, 2022 01:22PM ● By Brian Shaw
Robbie Yates drops in a three as he contributes 14 points per game so far for the Colts. (Travis Barton/City Journals)
By Brian Shaw | [email protected]
The Cottonwood High School basketball team tore through preseason like a wild stallion galloping through the streets of Murray, trampling and tearing up lawns while frantic homeowners called their HOAs wondering how this Colt could be tamed.
The short answer was that he and the other Colts couldn’t be. Not even a little bit, because Cottonwood was flying like a magical steed through the first 11 games, carrying on its backs an 8-3 record that nobody could deny.
If the Colts were still playing in Region 6, they would currently be one of the top schools in that league considering that in this preseason alone they defeated three of the five. Cottonwood smacked Brighton by 10 and Murray by eight to open December.
The Colts then tacked on three huge wins over 6A schools. First, a tough 54-52 victory over Herriman. Then they dragged 6A Granger to the back of the barn Dec. 17 and bucked off that school by 46 points, 100-54. Then right before the winter break the Class 5A Colts traveled to 6A West on Dec. 21 and tamed the Panthers by 23 points.
Were it not for a narrow three-point defeat to Northridge the Colts would have gone undefeated through their first seven games—an amazing turnaround considering they lost three of their first six preseason games a year ago.
After the break at the Utah Autism Holiday Classic held from Dec. 28-30 the Colts took on three more former Region 6 foes. In order they narrowly lost to Skyline by one point, 52-53 before battling a tough Highland losing 57-59 one day later.
Cottonwood made up for those two losses, however, by thumping East in the third and final game of the Holiday Classic by the score of 70-52 and in the process notched their third win of the season over a former Region 6 combatant.
Leading the way through the first 11 games of the 2021-22 season are senior guard Robbie Yates, who tops the Colts in scoring at 14.7 points per game, senior forward Noah Widerburg averaging 14.3 an outing, and sophomore center Chris Cox, averaging 10 points per contest.
The Colts have just started play in their new Region 7 classification and if an 11-point smacking of Uintah Jan. 4 is an indication of Cottonwood’s potential to win its new region going forward, then Colts fans could be in for an exciting year.
