Football Game Preview: North Gem Cowboys vs. Rockland Bulldogs

The North Gem Cowboys will challenge the Rockland Bulldogs at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.

As a matter of fact, North Gem put up the most points they have all season on Friday. They really took it to Watersprings for the full four quarters, racking up a 68-16 win. With the Cowboys ahead 54-14 at the half, the game was all but over already.

Craig Yost

Rushing Touchdowns

08/29/25 vs Camas County	6
10/17/25 @ Watersprings	5
10/10/25 vs Challis	3
10/03/25 vs Mackay	2
08/22/25 vs Utah Military Academy - Hill Field	2
+ 1 more games

This one was won in the trenches and the lion's share of the credit has to go to Craig Yost and Clay Johnson. Yost rushed for 161 yards and five touchdowns on only 15 carries while Johnson rushed for 156 yards and three TDs on only six carries. Yost is becoming a predictor of North Gem's success: when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns the team is 4-1 (and 1-2 when he doesn't).

Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something North Gem proved: they limited Watersprings to a paltry 3.5 yards per carry. The team can thank Yost for the heroic effort on defense: he. North Gem didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 11.4.

Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Rockland beat Challis 42-36 on Friday. The victory continues a trend for the Bulldogs in their matchups with the Vikings: they've now won four in a row.

North Gem better focus on containing Xavier Parrish and Zack Permann as the pair were huge in Rockland's win. Parrish threw for 231 yards and four TDs, while Permann gained 257 total yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance also gave Parrish a new career-high in rushing yards (112). Donevan Garner was Parrish's top target, picking up 63 receiving yards and a pair of scores.

Rockland's win bumped their record up to 6-2. As for North Gem, their victory bumped their record up to 5-3.

North Gem lost to Rockland at home by a decisive 60-44 margin when the teams last played back in October of 2024. Will the Cowboys have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other football content.