ST. GEORGE — Three Region 9 football teams got a look at the powerful 6A classification in Week 2 of the high school football season — and all three suffered losses.

For the second week in a row, only two of the Region 9 teams came away with victories in a busy non-region Friday night.

Following are recaps of the Region 9 football games from Week 2.  

Mountain Ridge 26, Dixie 21

Dixie (0-2) rallied behind junior quarterback Wyatt Truman, making his first varsity start, before running out of time against the 6A Sentinels.

“That’s basically the only week he got a lot of reps for us in practice, and he did a great job,” Flyers coach Blaine Monkres told St. George News.

Dixie’s defense shined, nabbing two interceptions (including a pick-six) and holding for two tough stops on fourth down.

“Defense stepped up again this week,” Monkres said. “We still got a ways to go, especially on offense, but I thought the effort was 10 times better this week than it was last week.”

Mountain Ridge surged to an early lead behind two big plays in the first quarter.

Semisi Kinikini took a direct snap and weaved 55 yards for a rushing score, then quarterback Wyatt Bingham connected with Kai Meza on a 73-yard bomb that put the visitors quickly in front 14-0.

Ran Sawyer got Dixie on the board at the end of the first quarter, taking a handoff and slashing to the end zone for a 7-yard TD run.

And then Dixie’s defense stood up. Jacob Dombroski and Kaesen Grover tackled Kinikini for a loss on fourth down to end a scoring threat from the visitors.

On Mountain Ridge’s next possession, Grover stepped in front of a Bingham pass to the sideline, snared the ball and ran 50 yards the other way for a pick-six that tied the game 14-14.

The Sentinels took the lead back before halftime, however, on a Bingham-to-Braden Anderson touchdown connection for a 20-14 lead at the break.

After a scoreless third quarter, Dixie took its only lead at 21-20 when Truman found Junior Coughlin on a 35-yard TD pass on fourth down.

But the visitors roared right back, marching down the field and sealing the deal with an 11-yard scoring burst by Jesus Hernandez. 

Dixie had one last possession but was stopped and Mountain Ridge ran out the clock.

“All we want to do is have a little more effort this week than we had last week and try to execute a little better, and we did both those things,” Monkres said. “The effort was great tonight, but the execution was down a little bit, especially on offense.”

Snow Canyon 31, Manti 14

The Warriors evened their record at 1-1 behind two Tank Kelly touchdown passes and two touchdown rushes by Max Reynolds.

Kelly’s 31-yard scoring toss to Cael Anderson put Snow Canyon ahead 7-0 near the end of the first quarter. 

Then Kelly found JT Westbrook on a 22-yard connection that nudged the Warriors ahead 14-8 more than 2 minutes into the third quarter.

Reynolds bulldozed his first 6-yard TD run with a little over three minutes left in the third and scored again in the fourth quarter on a 9-yard rush, putting the Warriors ahead for good.

Ammon Allred’s 37-yard field goal provided the final winning margin for Snow Canyon.

Moapa Valley 34, Hurricane 18

The Tigers (0-2) spotted the visiting Pirates from Nevada 13 points in the first quarter.

The home team got right back into the contest with a 23-yard field goal from LJ Langston and a 2-yard TD run from Jacob Garner, sending Hurricane into halftime down 13-10.

But then Moapa Valley scored three straight touchdowns in the second half to secure the victory.

Brecken Michler’s touchdown reception for Hurricane came with a little more than a minute left in the contest.

Cedar 21, Juab 10

Cedar also evened its record at 1-1 after scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to surprise the Wasps.

JT Jeter got the Reds on the board in the first quarter, collecting a 31-yard touchdown toss from Everett Kelling.

Juab answered with a 75-yard scoring bomb and 29-yard field goal to take a 10-7 lead after three quarters of play.

Tredyn Elliott got the lead back for the Reds, 14-10, after his 3-yard TD burst early in the fourth frame.

Then Jeter’s second TD toss from Kelling, a 21-yard pitch-and-catch, sealed the deal for the Reds with less than 5 minutes remaining in the contest.

Lehi 31, Desert Hills 14

The Thunder fell behind 17-0 in the third quarter before scoring, but the 6A Pioneers kept the points coming in the fourth and sent Desert Hills to an 0-2 start.

Marcus Anderson scored on a 1-yard plunge and Tristan John booted the PAT for Desert Hills, cutting the deficit to 17-7.

But Lehi put the game away in the fourth quarter with two touchdown passes. 

Garrett Grondel scored a rushing touchdown for Desert Hills late in the game to provide the final margin.

Bingham 26, Crimson Cliffs 23

The Mustangs (1-1) stunned the 6A Miners and took a 10-0 lead after the first quarter.

Steele Barben threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Malakai Alofipo and Ty Ottenschott booted a 46-yard field goal for the early Mustangs lead.

But the home team answered back to take a 13-10 lead after halftime, then scored 13 more points in the third frame.

Sandwiched between those two 13-point runs was another Barben touchdown pass, this one to Ty West for a 47-yard score in the third quarter.

McCord Christiansen’s 1-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter got Crimson within three but the Mustangs would not score again in a tough loss.

Canyon View 55, Pine View 41

Senior quarterback Jaxon Jensen threw three touchdown passes and rushed for three more scores as the Canyon View Falcons outgunned Pine View in a game that saw a total of 14 touchdowns.

The game was played on the artificial turf at Southern Utah University’s Eccles Coliseum as Canyon View’s home field was still unplayable after Thursday’s heavy rainstorm.

After receiving the opening kickoff to start the game, the Falcons drove the length of the field and scored, capping off the drive with a 10-yard TD run by Jensen.

Following a Pine View punt, Canyon View marched and scored again, taking a 14-0 lead after one quarter.

Early in the second quarter, the Panthers got on the scoreboard with a 50-yard TD pass from quarterback Adam Moore to Quincy Jones.

Canyon View’s next possession ended on an interception, but the Falcons got the ball right back following a three-and-out and a punt to midfield by Pine View.

Jensen then barreled up the middle for two big runs, the second one resulting in a 25-yard TD that put the Falcons up 21-7.

Canyon View kept the momentum going a couple of minutes later when Jensen found receiver Trenton Ludlow for a 50-yard scoring pass, giving the Falcons a 28-7 lead with just over 4 minutes left in the first half.

Pine View then rallied to score on a 30-yard TD pass from Moore to Brock Harris with just under three minutes left in the second quarter.

Then, with just one second left before halftime, Moore dove over the goal line from just inches away and brought the Panthers within seven at the break, 28-21.

Pine View tied the game on an 80-yard TD pass on the first play of the third quarter, with Moore connecting with Jones again.

The game stayed tied 28-28 for the rest of the third quarter, as both offenses started to sputter. Each team missed a field goal during that stretch.

Canyon View reignited things by scoring on the first play of the fourth quarter, a 30-yard TD run by senior running back Lincoln Rushton.

That gave the Falcons a 35-28 lead, which they ultimately would not relinquish, even though the fourth quarter ultimately saw a flurry of five more touchdowns, three by Canyon View and two by Pine View.

In addition to his 1-yard goal line plunge, Moore finished with five TD passes for Pine View, three to Jones and two to Harris. The junior QB now has eight passing touchdowns and two rushing scores over the first two games of the young season.

The Panthers (1-1) will host the Tooele Buffaloes in preseason action next Friday night.

Meanwhile, the Falcons improved to 2-0 and will take on their crosstown rival Cedar Reds next Friday at Canyon View.

– written by Jeff Richards

1A/2A/3A results

Enterprise 35, South Sevier 0

At South Sevier, Enterprise (2-0) shut out the Rams 35-0 behind touchdowns by Jaden Drake, Brayden Gardner and Kyron Bracken and five extra points from Drake.

American Leadership 50, Parowan 22

American Leadership established a lead of 26-6 and Parowan (0-2) couldn’t recover, despite two touchdown passes and a scoring run by quarterback Hunter Bettridge.

Beaver 31, Grantsville 3

The Beavers (2-0) got two rushing touchdowns from Deegan Blackner and one from Andrew Hollingshead and touchdown passes by Bodie Wheatley to Gage Raddon and Kutler Matheson to remain undefeated.

Kanab 35, North Sevier 0

Griffen Bone threw for three touchdowns and Maddex Bone passed and ran for two scores, and four Kanab (2-0) receivers had scoring receptions in the shutout of host North Sevier.

Rich 48, Water Canyon 6

Johnny Johnson’s three-yard run was the Wildcats’ only score as Rich scored the first 42 points of the game.

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