Region 9 football recap: Pine View wins title as regular season wraps up

ST. GEORGE — The Pine View Panthers secured the Region 9 football championship Friday night, rolling to a 55-3 win over Desert Hills. Also winning at home in convincing fashion were Dixie and Cedar, while Snow Canyon earned a shutout win on the road.

Pine View 55, Desert Hills 3

Leading up to the Desert Hills at Pine View contest, there was plenty of talk about what was on the line, including a possible three-way tie for first place or a possible Desert Hills region title if Dixie would have lost and the Thunder won. Although various scenarios were being thrown around, Pine View came out firing on all cylinders. The Panthers led 28-3 after the first quarter and extended that lead to 35-3 going into the half.

The lone Desert Hills score of the game came on the opening drive when Kire Goulding kicked a 23-yard field goal.

Throughout the game the Pine View defense silenced a good Thunder offense and helped out with the scoring as well, taking two interceptions to the house for touchdowns. Enoch Takau scored three of Pine View’s five offensive touchdowns, as he was used in goal line situations to punch the ball in from short distances.

Desert Hills at Pine View, St George, Utah, Oct. 11, 2019 | Photo by Ryne Williams, St. George News / Cedar City News

Pine View quarterback Macloud Crowton finished the season with 3,291 passing yards, 746 more yards then the next high-schooler on the list. He threw for 362 yards in the 55-3 win over Desert Hills.

With six total turnovers for the Thunder, mental mistakes proved to be costly, including penalties. Pine View capped off their regular season with a 7-0 record and the Region 9 title. For the full story, click here.

— written by Ryne Williams

Dixie 42, Hurricane 6

At Dixie, the Flyers overpowered the Tigers to finish in second place in the Region 9 standings. Reggie Graff threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another, leading the Flyers offense to the runaway win. Hurricane’s only score came on a 15-yard TD pass from Brock Starley to Raymond Cordova during the second quarter.

Snow Canyon 37, Canyon View 0

At Canyon View High School in Cedar City, the Snow Canyon Warriors scored a touchdown on their opening drive, then added three more in succession, capitalizing on a series of Falcon turnovers deep in their own territory.

Snow Canyon at Canyon View, Cedar City, Utah, Oct. 11, 2019 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

First, Bretton Stone caught a TD pass, then Ryan Bethers rushed for a 7-yard TD. Stone then did the same, giving the Warriors a 21-0 first-quarter lead.

On the first play of the second quarter, right after yet another takeaway by the Warriors via interception, Snow Canyon quarterback Landon Frei found Jase Mendenhall for a 10-yard pass into the end zone. Matt Van Gils added the extra point to give the Warriors a 28-0 lead, which would last until halftime.

In the closing seconds of the second quarter, Canyon View threatened to score deep in Snow Canyon territory, but the Falcons’ 4th-and-1 rushing attempt from the 5-yard-line was stopped cold by the Warrior defense.

Snow Canyon added nine more points in the second half, rolling to a 37-0 victory. The win gave the Warriors a fourth-place finish in Region 9 with a 4-3 record, while Canyon View dropped to 1-6. They and the rest of the teams will have to wait another week until the final RPI rankings are issued on Oct. 19 to learn who their first-round playoff opponents will be.

Cedar 42, Crimson Cliffs 14

In the first meeting between Region 9’s two “CC” schools (Cedar City and Crimson Cliffs), the Reds dominated at home, defeating the Mustangs 42-14.

Ben Ellis of Cedar catches a 5-yard TD pass from Jaron Garrett during the third quarter, Crimson Cliffs at Cedar, Cedar City, Utah, Oct. 11, 2019 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

After managing just one TD in last week’s 55-10 loss at Snow Canyon, Cedar found its offense against Crimson Cliffs, as quarterback Jaron Garrett threw three TD passes and ran for another score. Kolbe Meek scored 3 touchdowns for the Reds, two rushing and one receiving.

Cedar led 7-0 after one quarter and 28-7 at the half. The Reds added two more TDs in the second half, while the Mustangs added one more score, a 21-yard TD pass from Chase Hansen to receiver Curtis Sweeten in the corner of the end zone just before the third quarter ended.

“We played the way we were capable of playing, and I’m so proud of these guys,” Cedar head coach Josh Bennett said after the game. “After a really tough loss last week, we were wondering how they were going to respond this week, and man, they sure responded well. That’s a resilient group and they came back determined and ready to go. Very proud of them.”

The Cedar Reds finished with a 3-4 record in Region 9 play, putting them in fifth place, while the Mustangs fell to 1-6. 

Next Friday is a bye week for all eight Region 9 teams, as they have all finished league play. The 4A playoffs start the following weekend.

The Utah High School Activities Association’s latest RPI ratings were not yet available following Friday night’s games. Although none of the Region 9 teams have games next week, most of the rest of the state will be finishing up regular season play next Friday. The first round of the 4A playoffs will be the weekend of Oct. 25-26, with the top 10 RPI ranked teams having a bye and teams ranked 11-22 playing each other at the home fields of the higher-seeded schools. Click here to view the entire bracket (note that any seeds lower than 22 are nonexistent and therefore indicate a bye for the other team).

Region 9 football final regular season standings

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

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2019, all rights reserved.

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