3AA Semifinals: Big-play Grizzlies rumble past Snow Canyon

Written by Andy Griffin
November 12, 2015
Snow Canyon's Tj Taimi (15) breaks a tackle for some extra yardage, Snow Canyon vs. Logan, 3AA Football Semifinals, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 12th, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

SALT LAKE CITY – Thursday night’s 3AA semifinal between Logan and Snow Canyon was billed as the big-play Grizzlies against the ground-and-pound Warriors. In the end, Logan’s big plays were too much for SC.

logansnow-canyon-logoThe Grizzlies scored 21 points in the second quarter and went on to a 42-14 victory, punching their tickets to the state championship game next Friday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

“I don’t think I’ve broken that many tackles in my life,” said Logan receiver/return man Spencer Corbett, who had a 73-yard TD catch and an 84-yard punt return for a score. “They started to adjust to our big plays in the second half, so we started going for the inside stuff. Coach Fave is a genius.”

The Logan defenders break up a pass intended for Snow Canyon's Tj Taimi (15), Snow Canyon vs. Logan, 3AA Football Semifinals, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 12th, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
The Logan defenders break up a pass intended for Snow Canyon’s Tj Taimi (15), Snow Canyon vs. Logan, 3AA Football Semifinals, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 12th, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Logan head coach Mike Favero saw his team get that big halftime lead, but had to make adjustments after the Warriors got a stop in the third quarter and scored themselves to make it 28-14.

“Snow Canyon’s a good team with good leadership,” he said. “We had to make some adjustments and then execute on offense.”

After Snow Canyon’s third quarter score, Logan came out and marched 80 yards in 12 plays to push the lead back to 21 at 35-14. The Grizzlies did it with a mix of short passes and runs by QB Hunter Horsley and running back Colton Hatch.

“They came out in the second half in quarters or even fives to stop our big plays,” Horsley said. “We just had to be patient and take what they gave us after that.”

Snow Canyon's Chris Poulsen (6) catches a long pass for a touchdown, Snow Canyon vs. Logan, 3AA Football Semifinals, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 12th, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon’s Chris Poulsen (6) catches a long pass for a touchdown, Snow Canyon vs. Logan, 3AA Football Semifinals, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 12th, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

The drive took five minutes and put the game into the late stage of the third quarter. Snow Canyon, down 21, needed a matching drive to stay in the game. But it never came as Logan’s Blake Patterson intercepted SC’s Jackson Nowatzke at the Logan 44-yard line.

The Grizzlies then took nine plays to march 56 yards and push the lead to 42-14 and essentially put the game on ice. Hartman Rector caught a slant and dove into the end zone from 21 yards out to cap the drive with 9:04 left in the game.

“Hunter put the ball right on me,” Rector said. “We had three or four of those on that drive and they were all right there.”

The Warriors led the game 7-0 early after forcing a Logan fumble and then marching 78 yards on 13 plays. Chris Poulsen caught a 31-yard TD pass on fourth down to put Snow Canyon ahead in the last minute of the first quarter.

But Corbett’s 73-yard catch and run tied the game up just 39 seconds later, starting a run of 28 straight by the boys from Cache Valley.

Snow Canyon's Jackson Nowatzke (10), Snow Canyon vs. Logan, 3AA Football Semifinals, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 12th, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon’s Jackson Nowatzke (10), Snow Canyon vs. Logan, 3AA Football Semifinals, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 12th, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“They’re a physical team and we didn’t match that physicality in the first half,” Snow Canyon coach Marcus Matua said. “Unfortunately for us, we didn’t achieve our goal, but you can’t take away from the progress these boys have made. I’m proud of the boys and what they’ve done this year.”

Logan finished with 451 yards in the game, with Horsley passing for 312 and rushing for 88. Corbett had six catches for 187 yards and that long punt return for six.

The Grizz, 10-2, play in next week’s 3AA championship game against the winner of Friday’s Dixie-Tooele semifinal.

Snow Canyon finished with 234 yards, with Josh Barnes rushing for 74 of those yards. Chris Poulsen had 62 rushing yards and 31 receiving yards with two TDs, but the Warriors were just 5 of 14 on third downs in the game.

The Warriors, who finish the year 6-6, were only the second No. 6-seed to make it to the state semifinals in Utah history.

Stats: sclog111215

 

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Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, 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.

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