SODA SPRINGS - The first half had been one to forget for Malad receiver/defensive back Riker Carter. He hadn't been able to adjust to the cold temperature to make catches, and he'd allowed a long pass to Soda Springs receiver James McMurray that nearly set up a Cardinals touchdown.

But the Dragons still led by a score at halftime, and Carter wasn't about to let a bad first half affect the second. On his first chance after intermission, he hauled in a 35-yard touchdown pass from Kaden Goddard, the first of four third-quarter touchdowns for Malad in the Dragons' 40-0 victory over Soda Springs at Archer Field.

"In the first half, I couldn't catch anything," Carter said. "My hands were pretty cold. But I got warmed up in the second half, and I was able to haul them in."

But Carter didn't limit himself to hauling in passes from Goddard. On the defensive side of the ball, he intercepted Soda Springs quarterback Kaedyn Duncan twice. Both times, Malad (3-2 overall, 1-0 2A Fifth District) scored on its ensuing possession.

"He didn't have a great first half," Dragons coach McKay Young said . "To have him come out and respond with a great second half, defensively and offensively, was awesome."

In all, the Dragons converted three Soda Springs (4-2, 0-2) turnovers into 21 points, which helped turn a 6-0 lead into an insurmountable one. Young said those turnovers turned the game in his team's favor much more than Goddard's touchdown at the end of the first half, which came with just 12 seconds remaining.

"It felt good to go in (the half) up 6-zip," Young said. "But I don't really feel like anything really swung until those turnovers started to happen and we hit those big plays. Then you saw the momentum swing. That was awesome."

On the other side of the field, Soda Springs assistant coach Scott Gambles was at a loss to figure out how things had collapsed so quickly for the Cardinals.

"It was a great first half, but we couldn't sustain a drive," Gambles said. "We gave up a couple of turnovers, and it kind of went south on us in a hurry. Once things started to unravel, we just couldn't catch back up.

"Our kids fought hard that first half, and I really thought we held them (on Goddard's touchdown). That would have been huge for us if we would have. But we still got the ball in the second half. If we could have mounted any kind of drive and scored …"

Of course, there's no way of knowing what might've happened then, and Gambles didn't finish the thought.

Duncan, who saw his team fight hard in the first half, said that something seemed to go out of the Cardinals after Carter's touchdown.

"I didn't see quit in my guys' eyes, but it was starting to come on a little bit," he said. "That was kind of when we lost momentum. The whole factor, the 'impossible to beat Malad' kind of scared some people, but I think we did a lot better than everybody thought we would."

While the Dragons fed off their big plays, each one seemed to sap the Cardinals' will to sustain the way they played in the first half.

Now, the Cardinals will have to use their bye week to prepare themselves for a pair of games against Grace and Aberdeen that will determine whether they make it back to the playoffs or spend a second consecutive year at home in November.

"It means we can't make any mistakes," Duncan said. "We have to play perfect football two weeks in a row to have a shot at going to state, where we've wanted to be for the whole season. I still think we're a good football team. Malad and West Side are both very good football teams."

Meanwhile, the Dragons kept pace with district leader West Side and discovered their identity in the process.

"We had huge wins over teams that have struggled this year," Young said. "Then we had big losses against two of the most dominant 2A and 3A teams in the state. So we were like, 'Where are we?' To beat a good team and beat them soundly was just what we needed as far as confidence. Hopefully, we can take that momentum into Aberdeen and keep moving forward."