That drive was made to feel a lot longer for the Union football team, licking their wounds twice in the last three weeks after consecutive road-trip maulings at the paws of the Tigers.

The Tigers beat the Cougars 48-6 in the cat fight on Oct. 2 during the 3A North regular season, then drew them again in the first round of the state playoffs Friday night.

No. 7 Ogden advanced after clawing the No. 10 Cougars in a similar fashion, this time by a 42-3 beating.

Ogden (7-4) has a 3A quarterfinals date at No. 2 Juab (8-2) on Friday, Oct. 30.

BRIAN NICHOLSON, Special to the Standard-Examiner

Ogden didn’t come in overconfident and scored on its first possession. The Tigers took six plays before junior quarterback Emmett Rector connected with Jack Thompson for a 35-yard touchdown pass.

“We made sure we ran the plays right and came in with the right mental game,” Rector said. “My line parted like the Red Sea, and I stepped up and threw it over the middle; had a guy make a play.”

Rector made a lot of right plays, with four touchdown passes (two each to a pair of receivers).

“It was good … show my guys some love. Get them the ball so they can go make plays,” Rector said. “Trust my line, trust my guys to go make plays, put it out there for them and trust my reads. Just trust in everything.”

He threw one touchdown pass in every quarter. After the first-quarter connection to Thompson, he threw to Blake Weston for a 22-yard catch-and-run in the second stanza. Weston scored from 51 yards in the third period, and Thompson from 3 yards in the final frame.

BRIAN NICHOLSON, Special to the Standard-Examiner

“I realized how many touchdown passes I had, but I didn’t know I had one each quarter. That’s a pretty good ratio. I’ve got to keep doing it,” Rector said. “Our scheme was to run the ball until they stopped us, then go to the air, and it worked out.”

When things are going well, you stick with it, but senior running back Anderson Curry also contributed on the ground with two rushing touchdowns.

His first TD came with 3:54 left in the first quarter, on a 12-yard burst to the end zone, giving Ogden a 14-0 lead.

“It was a great game. My linemen blocked great for me today, especially at the start of the game. I got a walk-in touchdown. Ryan Kirkland blew up their corner, so it was a pretty easy touchdown,” Curry said.

Both first-quarter touchdowns came after Union turnovers when the Ogden defense picked off a pass and recovered a fumble.

“We saw the ball hit the ground and we jumped on it as quickly as possible,” Curry said. “Our defense was just ferocious; all over the place; getting stops after stops.”

When you factor in another Union fumble in the third quarter, and a turnover on downs in the fourth period, Ogden scored four of its touchdowns off Cougar turnovers.

“The defense played great, especially with only three points on the board for them,” Curry said.

Union’s (3-7) three points — on a 28-yard field goal by Kaden Womack — deserve mention because of the uniqueness of the drive.

The Cougars ran 19 plays, including a fake punt, and took 10:09 of game clock before the resulting field goal, keeping the ball away from the talented Tiger offense much of the second quarter.

The first touchdown pass to Weston was the only time the Tigers had the ball in that second quarter.

Curry’s second rushing touchdown came on a 13-yard carry midway through the third quarter, making it 28-3 at that point.

Rector took the starting quarterback reins this season from Weston, who moved to wide receiver. With two touchdown passes by the duo Friday, both moves clicked for the Tigers, who posted their third straight winning campaign.

“I worked my butt off in the offseason. The coaches felt like Blake was a better fit at receiver, and I just rolled with it and had confidence in myself to go make plays,” Rector said.

Ogden will need an upset victory next week at Juab to extend its season.

“It’s really exciting. I don’t want it to be my last game, so every game I get from now on is really important to me,” Curry said.

Bob Judson has covered high school sports for the Standard-Examiner for 51 years.