Region 9 football recap: Dixie, Pine View, Snow Canyon victorious at home as Crimson Cliffs gets road win

ST. GEORGE — Three Region 9 high school football teams won at home Friday night, with Dixie, Pine View and Snow Canyon each improving to 2-0 in region play. The only road team in the region to taste victory was Crimson Cliffs, with the Mustangs winning 40-7 at Canyon View.

Crimson Cliffs 40, Canyon View 7

At Canyon View, the Crimson Cliffs Mustangs bounced back from last week’s 37-7 home loss to Cedar in a big way, putting up six touchdowns against the Falcons as they rolled to a 40-7 win.

After Canyon View punted on its first possession, Crimson Cliffs quarterback Tyler Brown hit receiver Gunner Orr with a pass to the left sideline. Orr then raced 62 yards for the TD, giving the Mustangs an early 6-0 lead. The point-after kick attempt failed when the hike was mishandled.

Crimson Cliffs struck again with 8:36 left in the second quarter when running back Creed Leonard ran it up the middle and broke free for a 55-yard touchdown. The PAT kick missed, leaving Crimson up 12-0. A few minutes later, after Canyon View had punted, Leonard made a 14-yard TD run to put the Mustangs up 19-0. Kicker Ryan Woolley’s PAT was good this time, and he would go on to make three more.

Crimson Cliffs running back Creed Leonard advances to the 5-yard line, Crimson Cliffs at Canyon View, Sept. 11, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

At that point, the Falcons had about four minutes to make something happen before halftime. Aided by pass interference and facemask penalties by the Mustangs, Canyon View drove the ball into Mustang territory. On third down and 20, quarterback Jake Garrett found receiver Michael McCallister for a 19-yard gain, bringing up fourth down and 1. However, the ensuing play – another pass to McCallister – was incomplete, giving the ball back to Crimson Cliffs.

The Mustangs ended up punting again, after which Canyon View threw it deep into the end zone in the final seconds of the second quarter. However, the pass was picked off and the teams headed to the locker rooms with Crimson Cliffs ahead 19-0.

Crimson Cliffs had the ball first to start the third quarter but was forced to punt. Canyon View mishandled the punt on the receiving end, and the Mustangs recovered. That set up yet another Leonard rushing TD, this one from 33 yards out, on the very next play.

With the deficit now at 26-0, Canyon View managed to drive the length of the field and get on the scoreboard with a touchdown. Garrett made a 3-yard pass to Tyler Maine in the end zone to cap off the drive and make the score 26-7.

That ended up being Canyon View’s only points of the game, as Crimson Cliffs went on to score two more TDs. Leonard made an 8-yard run near the end of the third quarter, his fourth TD of the night, while Brown completed a 5-yard scoring pass to Orr with 7:07 remaining in the fourth quarter to account for the final 40-7 margin.

Immediately after the game, as the players and coaches celebrated the victory, Crimson Cliffs head coach Jaron Tate spoke of the team’s turnaround since last week.

“A lot of it was execution. One problem that we’ve been having is just that we’re making mental mistakes and we’re not focusing on our job,” Tate told St. George News. “So that was our message all throughout the week: do your job. Trust your teammates to do their job and you do your role.”

“I felt like that’s what we did this week,” he added. “We stayed within ourselves. We didn’t expect anybody to do anything that they’re not capable of doing. They trusted the team. They trusted the scheme, and they had a lot of positive things happen.”

“We had multiple people getting interceptions, getting turnovers and contributing to the win,” Tate added.

Next week, Crimson Cliffs will host Hurricane Friday at 7 p.m., while Canyon View will host the Pine View Panthers, also at 7 p.m.

Pine View 55, Cedar 21

At Pine View, quarterback Brayden Bunnell had a big night for the Panthers, completing 29-of-41 passes for 384 yards and four TDs.

Cedar trailed 28-14 at halftime and 35-21 after three quarters, but Pine View tacked on three more touchdowns unanswered late in the game to win, 55-21.

Preston Mann and Dominique McKenzie each had over 100 yards receiving for Pine View, with McKenzie catching two touchdown passes.

For Cedar, quarterback Jaron Garrett threw two TD passes, one each to Jack Cook and Kolby White, and rushed for another score.

Next Friday, Cedar plays at Dixie while Pine View heads to Canyon View.

Dixie 13, Desert Hills 0

In a low-scoring contest at Dixie, the Flyers’ Rene Bernal kicked a field goal in each of the first two quarters to take a 6-0 halftime lead. Then, late in the game, Dixie quarterback Bronson Barben threw a TD pass to Joshua Barney to account for the final margin of 13-0. Barben finished with 139 yards passing with 13 completions.

Desert Hills at Dixie, St. George, Utah, Sept. 11, 2020 | Photo by Jacqui Knighton for St. George News

The game marked Desert Hills’ first scoreless football game since 2011. Leading the way for the Flyers defensively was Mckade Fielding, who had 11 tackles, including three sacks; and Treven Alldredge, who had 15 tackles, one sack and a fumble recovery.

Next Friday, Dixie will host Cedar, while Desert Hills hosts Snow Canyon.

Snow Canyon 44, Hurricane 0

At Snow Canyon, the Warriors started off with a safety midway through the first quarter to take a 2-0 lead over the Hurricane Tigers. They then racked up six unanswered TDs, three each during the second and third quarters, to pick up the shutout win.

Snow Canyon quarterback Landon Frei threw for 235 yards as he efficiently completed 16-of-17 passes, including three for touchdowns.

The Warriors’ last TD came on a 58-yard pass from Frei to Tyden Morris on the last play of the third quarter. Both Morris and Frei had also scored TDs on short runs during the second quarter.

Kicker Jacob Wittwer was a perfect 6-for-6 on PATs. Also for the Warriors, Brenton Childs scored on a pick-six interception return.

Next Friday, Snow Canyon plays at Desert Hills while Hurricane takes on host Crimson Cliffs.

Region 9 football standings, as of Sept. 12 (region record, overall)

  1. Snow Canyon 2-0 (4-0)
  2. Pine View 2-0 (4-1)
  3. Dixie 2-0 (2-3)
  4. Cedar 1-1 (3-2)
  5. Crimson Cliffs 1-1 (2-2)
  6. Canyon View 0-2 (3-2)
  7. (tie) Desert Hills 0-2 (1-4)
  8. (tie) Hurricane 0-2 (1-4)

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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