Quick hits: Barber’s boot helps Snow Canyon edge Cedar

Snow Canyon vs. Cedar , Football, St. George, Utah, Sep. 30, 2016, | Photo by Todd Ellis, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Kolton Barber kicked a 23-yard field goal with 4:22 remaining in the game to lift Snow Canyon to a 17-14 3AA South Region win over Cedar City on Friday night.

snow-canyon-logocedar-logoMatt Kitchen completed 27 of 46 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Warriors (1-2, 3-4). Mason Fakahua completed 11 of 24 for 151 yards to lead Cedar (0-3, 3-4). Fakahua also had a 96 rushing yards and a 37-yard touchdown run.

The win was the Warriors’ first in region play after two six-point losses this season. Snow Canyon won just one region game in each of the last two years.

“A three-point win against Cedar, that’s a big win,” said SC coach Mike Esplin. “It wasn’t pretty, but against Cedar, that’s a big win.”

Cedar rallied late and had a game-tying field goal try with under a minute to play. The Redmen had gotten the ball to the Snow Canyon 17-yard line. But a loss of two yards on a run on second down and then a sack by Warrior Jayden Lacayo on Fakahua on third down netted a loss of eight yards, pushing the field goal try out to a 42-yard attempt.

Snow Canyon vs. Cedar , Football, St. George, Utah, Sep. 30, 2016, | Photo by Todd Ellis, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Cedar , Football, St. George, Utah, Sep. 30, 2016, | Photo by Todd Ellis, St. George News

The boot, by Cedar kicker Blake White-Schreibman, was plenty long, but sailed wide left and sparked a celebration by the Warrior faithful.

For Barber, it was his sixth field goal of the year. He was 1 for 2 in the game after a rough week against Pine View in which he had a pair of field goals blocked.

The game-winning drive for SC came after a blocked punt. The Warriors took over at the Cedar 43 and Kitchen completed all four of his pass attempts on the drive, which took SC to the Cedar 6-yard line. The three-minute drive was capped by Barber’s perfect kick, which broke the 14-14 tie.

Snow Canyon led 7-0 seven minutes into the game when Kitchen hit Zack Nowatzke on an 8-yard TD pass. Cedar tied it in the first minute of the second quarter when Fakahua scrambled for his 37-yard score.

Snow Canyon vs. Cedar , Football, St. George, Utah, Sep. 30, 2016, | Photo by Todd Ellis, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Cedar , Football, St. George, Utah, Sep. 30, 2016, | Photo by Todd Ellis, St. George News

SC regained the lead with 56 seconds left in the second quarter when Kitchen got his second TD pass, an 18-yarder to Brooks Sampson, making it 14-7.

The Redmen once again tied the game, this time Fakahua going to the air for a 17-yard strike to Derek Ball, making it 14-14 with 3:56 left in the third.

Barber missed a field goal early in the fourth quarter, but the Warrior defense got a stop and then a blocked punt to set up the eventual Barber game winner.

Snow Canyon, which got a great receiving day from Nowatzke (10 catches, 79 yards), improves to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in region. The Warriors host Dixie next Friday night.

Cedar, which drops to 3-4 and 0-3 on the year, has a home game against Hurricane next Friday.

Stats: cedsc93016

For more on this game and the rest of the 3AA South Friday night lights, including photos, quotes, stats and insight, go to Saturday Breakdown on St. George News.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

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