Flyers blow past the Dust Devils

dixie flyers football
Justin Cummings rushed for a touchdown before being taken out of the game for a head injury. | Photo by Patrick Amico, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – When you only let a team cross midfield one time the entire game, you know you’re in for a good night. The Flyers capitalized on field possession the whole game.

Dixie started five of its scoring drives on the River Valley’s side of the field, and they held River Valley to nine first downs – five of them came on the last two drives when the flyers and most of, if not all of, their starters on the bench. The Flyers managed 410 yards of total offense, scoring 8 touchdowns, 4 rushing and 4 passing in a 59-7 blowout win over River Valley, Ariz.

The Flyers were again led by quarterback Blake Barney, who threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns. Barney also added a rushing touchdown in the 2nd quarter. Barney could have added to his totals, but the Flyer coaching staff pulled him with eight minutes left in the 3rd quarter. They brought in sophomore quarterback, Drew Batchelor. Batchelor was 2-for-2 passing for 50 yards, and had a touchdown in less than a quarter-and-a half-of work.

Tadd Challis was the recipient of all three of Barney’s touchdown passes. Challis had 227 yards receiving on only five catches. The big play of the night was a 95-yard bomb from Barney mid way through the 1st quarter. That touchdown put the Flyers up 14-0 with just under five minutes left in the first.

The Flyer offense punched it in three more times that half and added a 43-yard field goal by Austin Barker to take a 38-0 lead at the half. After pulling Barney, Batchelor hit Kyle Hansen for a 28-yard touchdown pass late in the third.

Justin Cummings was the story on the ground for the Flyers. Cummings rushed for 50 yards and 2 touchdowns but left the game late in the 3rd with a head injury caused by an aggressive tackle. After talking to the coaching staff after the game, they said he could have returned but they wanted to be safe after being up by 59 points with one quarter to go.

The Flyers head up north to take on Uintah at Snow College. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. Dixie has won the last two meeting with Uintah and Unitah has revenge on its mind. This could also be a look ahead spot for the Flyers as arch rival Pine View the week after.

Blake Barney
Blake Barney

MVP Blake Barney

Blake Barney came into Friday night’s game leading Region 9 in passing yards, passing touchdowns, and total touchdowns. After the 59-7 blowout win over River Valley, Ariz., he not only extended his lead, but showed the rest of the Region that he’s the real deal.

Barney threw for 315 yards, connecting on 12 of his 15 passing attempts. That’s two weeks in a row that Barney has thrown for over 300 yards. Barney threw three more touchdown passes to bring is season total to seven and scored on 14-yard run. Barney did all that in just two-and-a-half quarters of work.

He was pulled with eight minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Barney has now been part of nine touchdowns after the first two weeks of the season.

Head coach of the Flyers, Blaine Monkres, says, “Blake is making his reads a lot faster and throwing it on the money, he’s just a play maker.”

Blake Barney will lead the Flyers north to take on Uintah at Snow College next Friday at 4 p.m.

[email protected]

Copyright 2011 St. George News. This material may not be published or rewritten without written consent.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.