ST. GEORGE — With the 2018-19 school year now officially underway, Region 9 high school teams in six fall sports are starting their respective seasons. Following is a quick preview and update on each fall sport:
Boys golf
The first Region 9 match of the season took place Wednesday afternoon at Cedar Ridge Golf Course in Cedar City, with all seven region schools participating. Although a late afternoon rainstorm brought threatening clouds, all of the golfers were able to finish their 18-hole round. Pine View placed first with 316 strokes, followed closely by Dixie with 321 and Desert Hills with 323.
The top individual golfer in Wednesday’s opener was Pine View sophomore Lucas Schone, who shot a 73. Tied for second place were Dixie’s Jack Phillips and Snow Canyon’s Luke Walton, who each carded a 77.
Last year, Desert Hills placed third overall in the state 4A tournament, finishing 17 strokes behind winner Park City, which took home its 10th straight state title. Also at the 2017 state 4A tournament, Dixie placed sixth as a team and Pine View took eighth. Schone tied for fourth place overall individually at state as a freshman last year.
Volleyball
Desert Hills is coming off a 20-8 season last year, placed first in Region 9 with an 11-1 record, closely followed by runner-up Dixie, which finished 10-2 in 2017. Desert Hills ended up taking third in last year’s state 4A tournament, defeating region rival Snow Canyon 3-2 in the third-place consolation match.
This season, region play starts in late August or the first week of September.
Football
The Dixie Flyers, who were last year’s Region 9 football champions, will have former head coach Blaine Monkres returning to the helm this year, after three years coaching elsewhere.
Read more: Monkres returning to Dixie; D-Hills also has new coach
Three other Region 9 schools have new head coaches on the sidelines, namely Hurricane’s Skyler Miller, Canyon View’s Chris Sawyers and Desert Hills’ Mark Murdoch. In addition, Pine View has added Gary Crowton as offensive coordinator and Nick Hansen as defensive coordinator to assist longtime coach Ray Hosner, who is starting his 18th season as the team’s head coach.
After three weeks of non-region games in August, the Region 9 football teams will commence playing each other starting Sept. 7.
Four Region 9 football teams will play their respective season openers at home Friday, with Pine View hosting Green Canyon, Snow Canyon hosting Taylorsville, Hurricane hosting Mountain View and Dixie hosting Springville. The other three Region 9 schools will be on the road, with Cedar playing at Provo, Canyon View playing at Beaver and Desert Hills playing at Salt Lake City’s Highland High. All games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Cross-country
Several area cross-country teams will kick off the season Thursday evening, as Cedar High hosts the “All Comers” meet starting at 6 p.m. On Aug. 25, the SUU Invitational, also in Cedar City, will take place starting at 8 a.m.
In 4A girls cross-country, Region 9 schools had three of the top four placing teams at last year’s state meet, including 4A state champion Pine View, third-place Desert Hills and fourth-place Cedar.
Read more: Pine View girls save best for last, win 4A state title
The top-finishing runners from each of those schools are expected to return to action this year. Desert Hills’ Bailey Brinkerhoff took third in state overall in 2017 as a junior with a time of 18:07.5, while Pine View sophomore Jessica Hill placed fifth in state with a time of 18:22.6. In addition Cedar’s Harley Taylor and Mic Webster, who placed a respective seventh and ninth in state individually last year, are both seniors this year.
In 4A boys cross-country, Pine View placed second overall as a team at the 4A state meet last year, with Desert Hills taking third and Hurricane sixth. Individually, Hurricane’s Caleb Armstrong placed second in the state 4A as a junior last year, posting a time of 15:27.3.
Girls soccer
Snow Canyon, last year’s Region 9 champions with an overall record of 11-4-3 (9-3-0 in region play), is off to a strong start this season, hosting two Cache Valley schools last week and beating both by shutout. The Lady Warriors, who have several returning players from last year’s team, defeated Ridgeline 1-0 on Aug. 9 and Green Canyon 2-0 on Aug. 10.
Other teams expected to be competitive in Region 9 include Dixie, Desert Hills and Cedar. Desert Hills went 1-2-1 at a multiday tournament in Orem last week.
Region play starts Aug. 21.
Girls tennis
Desert Hills, winners of last year’s Region 9 title, ended up tied for second place in the 4A state tournament, joining Ridgeline as runners-up to state champion Park City. The Lady Thunder have five state qualifying players returning from last year, namely senior Lyndsi Graf, juniors Morgan Behymer and Faith Hess and sophomores Mackinzie Telford and Tia Turley. Turley and Graf were last year’s state champions in No. 2 doubles, while the other three players competed in singles at state, with Hess making it to the finals in No. 2 singles.
The monthlong girls tennis regular season, which started this week, lasts until Sept. 13, after which the region championships are scheduled for Sept. 21-22, followed by the state tournament Sept. 27-29 in Salt Lake City.
Three dual region matches are scheduled for Thursday at 4 p.m., with Pine View playing at Cedar, Desert Hills traveling to Canyon View and Hurricane playing at Snow Canyon.
The Cedar at Canyon View match originally scheduled for Tuesday was postponed due to lightning. It will be held Friday instead, coaches said.
Sports scores, photos, statistics, and tips
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