With Black leading the line, Wyoming marched 80 and 55 yards on its first two drives of the game, opening up a 14-0 advantage on a pair of Josh Boggan scoring runs.

Boggan finished with 20 carries for 94 yards, part of a balanced attack by the Cowboys that featured 156 yards on the ground.

Senior quarterback John Wirtz added 158 yards by completing 13 of 19 passes, connecting on his first five passes of the game during Wyoming’s two scoring drives.

“I think my receivers did a good job of getting open and my line did a great job of blocking,” Wirtz said, “I had all day to throw.”

Wirtz added having someone like Black on the line enables him to have an added sense of comfort in the backfield.

“It’s great,” Wirtz said.  “I never get hit from the left side.”

Fueled by its homecoming crowd, Reading recovered to cut Wyoming’s lead to 14-6 by halftime with a pair of Teddy Greshel field goals.

Junior quarterback Garrett Edwards, who began the game 0-for-4 before finishing 11 of 19 for 108 yards, completed his final eight passes of the half leading to Greshel’s kicks of 33 and 20 yards.  Andrew Clark also deflected a Wyoming punt that traveled six yards in the final minute of the half to set up Greshel’s second field goal.

Wirtz directed Wyoming 75 yards on the opening drive of the second half to extend its lead to 21-6, rushing 22 yards past midfield before completing the drive with a 10-yard jump ball in the end zone to 6-foor-7 senior Jordan Bright.

It appeared Wyoming would get another chance to add to its lead when Black picked up a third-down sack of Garrett at the Reading 5, but Black had grabbed the quarterback’s face mask in the process, and the 15-yard penalty gave the Blue Devils new life.

Reading took advantage, moving to the Wyoming 35 on a 35-yard scramble by Edwards and scoring on another 35-yard run by speedy freshman Rashad Kyte around the left side.  Kyte, who ran 13 times for 84 yards in the game, also ran in the two-point conversion with 10:26 remaining in the game.

The Blue Devils had two more chances in Wyoming territory, but were unable to take advantage.

Jacob Green forced a Reading fumble that the Cowboys recovered at their own 29 to end one threat and Tim Benner’s third-down sack helped end Reading’s final drive on downs at the Wyoming 39.

The fact that Reading (3-5, 2-3 CHL), the smallest school in the CHL, had chances to tie or win a game against a Wyoming team that is currently in line for a Division IV playoff berth was no surprise to Reading head coach Ken Minor.

“This game between us and them is always more emotional than anything else,” Minor said.  “We’ve been rivals for a long time.  For awhile it’s been whoever won this game won the league.”

Wyoming (7-1, 5-0) is hoping that holds true this season.  After traveling to play Mariemont (2-3, 4-4) next Friday, Wyoming faces the only other team undefeated in CHL play, Indian Hill (6-2, 5-0), at Paul Brown Stadium. 

A win in both games would give the Cowboys their first outright CHL title since 2001.

“That is what we’re after,” Black said.