Dixie toughs out 27-19 win to capture 2014 state football title

Written by Andy Griffin
November 21, 2014
The Dixie Flyers celebrate with the state championship trophy, Dixie vs. Hurricane, 2014 3AA Football State Championship, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 21, 2014 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

SALT LAKE CITY – Dixie has been accused of being a finesse team that would rather rack up big points than play defense.

dixie-smhurricane-smWhoever said that should have seen Dixie tough out a 27-19 victory over Hurricane Friday in the 3AA State Championship game. The Flyers stood toe-to-toe with the physical Tigers and gutted through injuries and adversity to capture the 2014 state title at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the University of Utah.

“It was crazy from the start,” Dixie receiver Bret Barben said. “There were a lot of hard hits. I got nailed a couple of times.But we just did what we had to do to get the win.”

Dixie WR Bret Barben (13) finds some room to run after a catch, Dixie vs. Hurricane, 2014 3AA Football State Championship, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 21, 2014 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie WR Bret Barben (13) finds some room to run after a catch, Dixie vs. Hurricane, 2014 3AA Football State Championship, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 21, 2014 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Barben was one of the stars of the game for Dixie, catching eight passes for 140 yards. He missed several plays after taking a hard hit on the sideline. But that was the norm in this game. Both teams brought the wood, so to speak.

“We knew coming in that it was going to be a hard-hitting game,” Dixie coach Blaine Monkres said. “We saw the hitting Hurricane was doing when they played Desert Hills last week so we knew they were going to come after us. We told the kids we were going to have to match their intensity and toughness and I thought we were able to do that.”

The Flyers sealed the win late when RJ Wilgar intercepted Hurricane quarterback Josh Parker near the Tigers sideline with 1:51 to play, enabling Dixie to run out the clock and seal its second state championship in the last three seasons.

“It was a physical, physical game,” Wilgar said. “Hurricane’s a dang good football team and we knew it was going to come down to the wire. It came down to that last possession and I was fortunate enough to make a play and give the ball back to our offense.”

Wilgar said he had a feeling that the ball would be heading his way late in the game.

Dixie DB RJ Wilgar (1) intercepts a pass late in the game to seal the victory over Hurricane, Dixie vs. Hurricane, 2014 3AA Football State Championship, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 21, 2014 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie DB RJ Wilgar (1) intercepts a pass late in the game to seal the victory over Hurricane, Dixie vs. Hurricane, 2014 3AA Football State Championship, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 21, 2014 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“They completed that same play on us like four times,” he said. “We were man and I was not able to go over and help. But I said if I see that quarterback drop and look that way, I’m gone, I’m sprinting there. I saw it and I was lucky enough to sprint over and make the play.”

Dixie never trailed in the game and held double-digit leads several times. With the Flyers holding a 17-12 edge, Tre Miller sprinted up the middle of the field for a 57-yard TD to make it 24-12 with 8:52 left in the game. The long run came after a Jaden Harrison interception.

“That pick was big, because it helped us seize momentum back,” Dixie QB Ammon Takau said. “That was a huge play as it came right after my interception.”

Hurricane put itself in a bigger hole in its next possession when Parker got nailed on a sack and Namu Stevenson recovered the resulting fumble. The Tigers defense held in an impressive goal line stand to keep it a two-score game after a McLane Keenan field goal. The tally was 27-12 with 5:21 left in the game.

Hurricane rallied behind sophomore QB Parker. He hit Noah Elison with 10-yard TD with 3:16 to play to cap a 9-play, 80-yard drive. The extra point made it 27-19, but the Tigers weren’t done yet.

After stopping Dixie on three plays, Hurricane took over at its own 36-yard line with 2:40 to play. Out of timeouts, the Tigers needed to rally for eight points. A perfect conversion on third down on a pass to Jeremiah Ieremia, Parker had his squad at the 48-yard line with just under two minutes left.

That’s when Wilgar read the fade pass and stepped in front of Elison to seal the Flyers title.

“This is an unreal feeling, the best I’ve felt my entire life,” Wilgar said. “I love all these dudes. It’s amazing. Amazing.”

The Flyers led early when Takau found tight end Logan Schweitzer on a blown coverage for a 26-yard score with 4:49 left in the first quarter.

Hurricane then marched the length of the field, but had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by JD Stanworth to make it 7-3 with 54 seconds left in the first quarter.

Hurricane defenders break up a pass intended for Dixie's Bret Barben (13), Dixie vs. Hurricane, 2014 3AA Football State Championship, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 21, 2014 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Hurricane defenders break up a pass intended for Dixie’s Bret Barben (13), Dixie vs. Hurricane, 2014 3AA Football State Championship, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 21, 2014 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Dixie answered with a 7-yard pass from Takau to Harrison to make it 14-3 with 9:09 left in the first half. The Tigers cut it to 14-6 just before halftime on a 29-yarder by Stanworth.

The only score of the third quarter was a Keenan field goal that made it 17-6. Hurricane pulled to within 17-12 on Jeremiah Ieremia’s 5-yard run with 11:15 left in the game, setting up the epic final moments.

“I’m really happy for the kids,” Monkres said. “This is a different set of kids than the last championship, so you gotta work hard and try to make it happen for them and they gotta work hard and make it happen for themselves. I’m just really proud and happy for them.”

Hurricane actually won the statistical battle, out-gaining the Flyers 357-333. Parker, making just his third start at QB, was 20 of 30 for 252 yards and a score. Takau passed for 199 yards and two scores and also had 54 rushing yards and accounted for two TDs.

“Ammon did a good job today,” Monkres said. “I still think he only had three or four interceptions all year. He takes care of the ball and that’s what we need from our quarterback.”

Takau was a sophomore backup quarterback when Dixie won it 2012 behind QB Blake Barney.

“I’m just really grateful for the guys and the team that we have,” Takau said. “I’m so thankful they were able to follow me and to help me and to push this team to the state title. I feel great, a little bit bruised but great. It feels amazing.”

Dixie finishes the year 10-4 and ends the season on an eight-game winning streak.

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery. 

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andy Griffin has been in sports media since 1989 and has covered BYU, Utah State and the Utah Jazz as well as all sports in southern Utah. A journalism graduate of USU, Andy has carried on a dual career as both a sports writer and a sports broadcaster and has been heard around the country. He has also been published in USA Today, Sport magazine, The Sporting News, Fairways magazine, the Los Angeles Times and locally in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Spectrum. Andy was “The Voice of Region 9 sports,” for many years. He also hosted a daily sports talk show for three years called AG in the a.m. Andy has been married to his college sweetheart Shelly for 28 years and has five children ages 13 to 25.

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!

11 Comments

  • JOSH DALTON (INCOGNEGRO) November 21, 2014 at 5:11 pm

    SGPD is going to have a field day issuing minor Consumption and DUI violations tonight!

    • Hike November 22, 2014 at 12:51 pm

      How much scoring was done after the game?

  • Notagain November 21, 2014 at 5:16 pm

    Excellent job with the camera shots.

  • Hike November 21, 2014 at 6:46 pm

    Where are the pictures of the cheerleaders?

  • Nate November 21, 2014 at 7:30 pm

    Congrats FLYERS!! Proud Dixie alum… happy to see the boys in BLUE bring home TWO state titles in the last three years!! Keep Flyin’ High!

  • Wowsa November 22, 2014 at 9:28 am

    Yawn! Glad the season is over. Maybe we won’t see so many high school football posts.

    • Nate November 24, 2014 at 12:55 am

      You don’t have to read them. Some people… Annoy.

  • Wowsa November 22, 2014 at 9:31 am

    So you have 11 teams, four of which are in St George, one in Hurricane. The playoff is all 11 of those teams, regardless of their W-L record. How boring is that especially when most had blowout losses during the season.

    • Nate November 24, 2014 at 12:57 am

      For someone so bored with football posts, your two comments paint a very different picture. And no, not all teams get to go to state. Ax to grind? Move along.

      • WOWSA November 24, 2014 at 7:48 am

        What a waste of taxpayer money. Should just give them all medals at the beginning of season, for everyone’s a winner, and then don’t even worry about keeping score. Designate the champion team and pass that title around every year.

  • Redrocks November 22, 2014 at 11:27 am

    Congratulations Dixie football team. Great bunch of kids and the best coaching staff!! The coaching staff tried many kids in different positions at the start of the season looking for the best team chemistry. They took some losses early but put it together to make a great run through the last half of the season.
    Many great things about this team the fact that only one boy started on both the offense and defense. A lot of kids had the opportunity to play. Most schools in the 3-AA use the same kids on defense and offense. Several of these kids play multiple sports, they are not just a football only team. For some football is not their main sport. They also don’t have a superstar on the team. There is no super D-1 recruit. A championship team built on the concept of team play. Not one of these boys cares to receive the individual glory they did it for the team.

Leave a Reply

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