4A state football: Regions 10 and 11 each have 2 teams remaining in semifinals

Written by E. George Goold
October 28, 2022

ST. GEORGE — At the beginning of Friday’s 4A quarterfinal state football games there were five teams from Region 10 still playing.

Now there are two.

Region 11 won two of the three games featuring head-to-head matchups but Region 10 still has the top two seeds remaining in the tournament with the semifinals next Friday night.

Mountain Crest upset Dixie to start Friday’s games. Ridgeline then beat Snow Canyon in Millville, while Desert Hills thundered to a big win and Crimson Cliffs dispatched Cedar to cap off the night contests.

Following are recaps from Friday night’s quarterfinal games.

Mountain Crest 28, Dixe 21

Playoff football games come down to one or two critical plays.

Dixie senior Seth Takau runs the ball against Mountain Crest in a 4A state football playoff game, St. George, Utah, Oct. 28, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Dixie had a touchdown called back in the first half because of a holding call, missed a field goal as time expired in the second quarter and went on to lose a heartbreaker at Walt Brooks Stadium.

“We just didn’t get the breaks,” Dixie coach Blaine Monkres told St. George News after the loss. “It wasn’t our day today. We didn’t lose to a bad team. They’re a good team and they got after it today.”

Seth Takau (64 yards) and David Barschi (73 yards) were on the receiving ends of big touchdown passes from Jalen Schultz for Dixie.

Jeffrey Christian took a short screen pass for a 37-yard touchdown that electrified the home fans and tied the game 21-21 with just over five minutes remaining in the contest. 

Dixie got the ball back but the ensuing drive ended in an interception, and on the next play, Mountain Crest quarterback Casey Crofts found Will DeKorver for an 85-yard touchdown that provided the final margin.

Dixie’s season ends at 6-4. Mountain Crest goes on to face Desert Hills in one of the semifinals next Friday.

Crimson Cliffs 33, Cedar 14

Boston Adamson collected three touchdown passes from Steele Barben and the Mustangs shut out the Reds in the second half to secure the big home win.

Cedar’s Spencer Bell runs against Crimson Cliffs in a 4A state football playoff game, Washington, Utah, Oct. 28, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

The game was tied 14-14 at halftime, but Crimson broke open the contest behind its punishing defense and explosive offense.

“We saw that Cedar’s plan early in the game was to try to limit our offensive possessions,” Mustangs coach Wayne Alofipo told St. George News after the win. “We only had the ball three times in the first half, and we scored twice. So we were efficient.”

Cedar came out with energy and a strong gameplan, but starting quarterback Koden Lunt was banged up in the second quarter and did not return to play. Backup Spencer Bell directed the offense well, but Crimson’s defense kept the Reds off the scoreboard in the second half.

Crimson Cliffs quarterback Steele Barben tossed five touchdowns to pace the Mustangs’ victory. The three to Adamson went for 35, 17 and 29 yards. He also hooked up on scoring strikes with Jordan Eaton (4 yards) and Tyler West (80 yards).

“We’ve always known Boston is a weapon for us,” Alofipo said. “If you’ve seen every game, it’s Steele who distributes the ball so well and we have a barrage of weapons for him to throw to.”

Crimson earned a matchup next Friday with No. 4 seed and defending state champion Ridgeline.

Ridgeline 41, Snow Canyon 20

The Riverhawks held No. 5 Snow Canyon scoreless for much of the first half and the Ridgeline offense built a 28-7 lead en route to defeating the Warriors.

Snow Canyon, which finished 7-4 overall and 5-1 in Region 10, scored on a 95-yard kickoff return by Will Warner. The Warriors’ first-quarter score followed the opening touchdown of the game, a 1-yard run by Ridgeline’s JT White.

The Riverhawks (8-4 overall, 4-1 in Region 11) reeled off three consecutive scores following Warner’s runback. Quarterback Ian Dahle found receiver Hunter Knighton on a 19-yard scoring strike with 4:25 left in the first quarter, and Nate Dahle added TD rushes of two yards and one yard in the second quarter.

But Snow Canyon responded when Teagan Hugh found paydirt from four yards out, and Corbin Christian’s second PAT closed the gap to 28-14 with 4:01 remaining before the half.

Ridgeline extended the margin with a pair of third-quarter scores – a 1-yard run by Nate Dahle and a 27-yard field goal by Aaron Young – to go up 38-14.

The Warriors’ final score of the game came with 1:23 left in the third quarter when Hugh crossed the goal line from one yard out. But the 2-point conversion run failed, and Young added a 25-yard field goal with 5:10 to play to provide the final margin. 

Desert Hills 35, Sky View 21

Desert Hills beats Sky View in a 4A state football playoff game, St. George, Utah, Oct. 28, 2022 | Photo by Aaron Crane, St. George News

The Thunder (8-4 overall, 4-2 in Region 10) got three touchdown passes from Noah Fuailetolo as No. 2 Desert Hills built an insurmountable 35-3 lead en route to the victory over the No. 7 Bobcats (6-5 overall, 4-1 in Region 11).

Sky View kicker Calebe de Quadros booted a 20-yard field goal to open the scoring and later added a 30-yarder.

The Thunder defense kept Sky View out of the end zone until the fourth quarter while the Desert Hills offense added touchdown runs by Fuailetolo and Beau Wall and scoring receptions by Tayven Mortensen and Javiyan Cummings.

The Thunder’s final score came with 1:53 remaining in the third quarter when Fuailetolo found Lincoln Holmes from nine yards out, and Xander Jones booted his fifth extra point of the night.

Sky View, however, wouldn’t go away and put up 15 points in the final quarter on a pick-six by Ramsey Vicars and a 5-yard run by Michael Furgeson.

1A/2A/3A roundup

Beaver needed a little late magic to prevail and the Beavers (7-4 overall, 4-1 in 2A South) got it when quarterback Tyten Fails found Bodie Wheatley from 30 yards out with two seconds left in the game to defeat Summit Academy 27-24. Beaver fell behind with 29 seconds left in the final quarter but orchestrated a winning drive to advance to the semi-finals against 2A North No. 1 seed South Summit.

Top-ranked Enterprise improved to 11-0 (3-0 in 1A South) with a 35-7 win over North Summit. Kyron Bracken and Aiden Dougherty each had two rushing touchdowns for the Wolves, who advanced into the 1A semifinals with the win.

Kanab (9-2 overall, 2-1 in 1A South) scored the final 13 points of the game and advanced to the 1A semifinals by edging Duchesne 27-26. Griffen Bone threw three TD passes of 6, 74 and 67 yards and ran in the clincher from a yard out to seal the victory.

–St. George News editor Vin Cappiello contributed to this report

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric George Goold came to St. George News from southwestern Colorado, where he was a radio news reporter. He has been a journalist for over 20 years in five different states. He graduated with a master's degree in English from Kansas State University and writes nonfiction as well. Goold has been published in Sunstone Magazine and has done multiple public readings about local history. When he has free time, he enjoys chess, movies and dogs.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

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