ST. GEORGE — It was a rough opening Friday night for local high school football teams in their return to Region 9.

Pine View got three interceptions on defense against Logan and won its first game in over a year, and Crimson Cliffs recovered from a shaky start and rolled to beat Morgan.

But the other five squads in the region suffered setbacks as Desert Hills lost at home and Cedar, Dixie, Snow Canyon and Hurricane all lost on the road.

Following are recaps of the games from Week 1 in Region 9 football.

Pine View 43, Logan 19

Matthew Costa caught a touchdown pass in the second half for the Panthers and followed that up with a pick-six on Logan’s next possession to put the game away.

“We had our team locked in after the half. Even though we were up, we knew we couldn’t let down,” Costa told St. George News. “So we had to go out there and execute.”

Costa’s touchdown from Adam Moore came after he somehow held onto the ball after falling down around his defender. Then his pick-six came after he weaved through Logan’s entire team on the return.

“Thanks to my teammates, I got open, got a good touchdown,” Costa said. “Then thanks to my teammates on defense, I got a good pick, they blocked for me and I got a pick-six. It’s all a team effort and we love what we did today.”

Logan led the game 7-6 before a lightning delay paused proceedings. The Panthers came back in the second quarter with 16 points to take a 22-7 lead into halftime.

Logan scored the only TD of the third to make things close, but Pine View won the fourth quarter 21-6 to secure the Panthers’ first varsity win since Oct. 29, 2021. 

“First win. We didn’t get one of those last year, so we’re stoked,” Costa said. “We’re excited, for real.”

Moore completed 16 of his 25 pass attempts for 166 yards. Besides his TD toss to Costa, the junior quarterback connected with Quincy Jones for two scores (17, 30 yards). 

Moore ran for 33 yards and a score as well, and Jones finished with an 18-yard rushing TD. Mohe Tonga finished as the leading rusher for Pine View with 66 yards. 

Brock Harris finished as Pine View’s leading receiver with seven grabs for 67 yards.

Crimson Cliffs 35, Morgan 15

The Mustangs corralled the Trojans behind a furious defensive effort and a steady offense.

After falling behind 8-0 in a shaky start, Crimson reeled off the next 28 points to take a commanding 28-8 lead into the final frame.

Steele Barben connected on consecutive 5-yard touchdown passes to Ty West and Boston Adamson, putting the Mustangs ahead for good 14-8 in the second quarter.

Malaki Alofipo’s 20-yard TD reception right before halftime kept the points coming, then the Mustangs secured the win on the ground.

McCord Christiansen scored from 10 yards out and Mason Topalian ran for a 5-yard score in the second half and Crimson started the season out at 1-0.

Springville 34, Dixie 7

The Flyers spotted the 5A Red Devils 27 points before getting on the board in the third quarter. Dixie’s only touchdown came at the 3:54 mark by way of a 75-yard kickoff return by Lucito Bennett and PAT by Jonathan Bibiano. Meanwhile, host Springville was paced by Tevita Valeti, who scored all five Red Devil touchdowns and rushed for 180 yards on 26 carries.

Stansbury 32, Snow Canyon 19

After falling behind 12-0 to the Region 10 host Stallions, the Warriors got on the board when Makaio Swensen hauled in a 12-yard pass from Tank Kelly. After a missed point-after attempt, Stansbury went up 19-7 at 4:27 of the second quarter. Snow Canyon, however, responded as Kelly powered over the goal line from one yard out, and Ammon Allred split the uprights to make it 19-13 at the half.

Stansbury’s offense controlled the line of scrimmage in the second half and posted touchdown runs of 68 and seven yards to increase the lead to 33-13. The Warriors’ final TD came with 56 seconds left in the game when Kelly found JT Westbrook from 71 yards out to provide the final margin.

Mountain Crest 35, Hurricane 0

The Region 10 Mustangs tamed the visiting Tigers by holding them scoreless and finding the end zone themselves via two runs, two passes and a fumble recovery.

Richfield 28, Cedar 7

The Reds’ lone score came after the damage was done and the Wildcats were already up 28-0. Cedar quarterback Koden Lunt found JT Jeter from 46 yards out with 3:19 remaining in the contest. Jacob Jenkins was successful with the PAT in the Reds’ home opener.

Brighton 34, Desert Hills 14

Lightning struck twice early as the Thunder opened the scoring 30 seconds into the game. Desert Hills’ Tytan Mason scored on a 30-yard run and Tristin John added a PAT for a 7-0 lead. But a lightning delay paused the game shortly thereafter.

The Bengals tallied the next four touchdowns — one by run and three via the pass — to build a 27-7 halftime lead. The Thunder got back in the scoring column in the third quarter when Mason scampered 60 yards for the score, and John added the point-after.

Desert Hills surrendered another touchdown and Brighton’s defense held the Thunder scoreless for the remainder of the game.

1A/2A/3A roundup

• Canyon View beat Mountain View 57-29 in a back-and-forth affair that saw the Falcons score the last four touchdowns of the game to pull away in the fourth quarter. Playing on the road, Canyon View quarterback Jaxon Jensen accounted for six touchdowns — three each by run and pass.
• The host Beaver Beavers got two defensive scores from Andrew Hollingshead and Kelston Langston in a 33-14 win over South Summit.
• Enterprise scored all its points by 3:54 of the third quarter en route to a 39-7 win over Judge Memorial with two scores each from Ryker Phillips, Devin Strong and Jaden Drake.
• Kanab, a 1A school, got three touchdowns from Hayden Gubler en route to a 40-26 victory over 3A North Ben Lomond.
• Parowan couldn’t get anything going on offense and fell 35-0 on the road to Delta.

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

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