ST. GEORGE — Crimson Cliffs won a squeaker while both Dixie and Cedar tallied convincing victories in Region 10 football action Friday night.

The Mustangs’ 27-25 home victory over Snow Canyon helped them improve to 4-1 overall and 2-0 to lead the conference, while the Warriors fell to 2-3 and 1-1, respectively.

With their 51-13 win over Pine View, the Dixie Flyers improved to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the region, while the Panthers slipped to 0-4 and 0-2.

The Reds’ 38-0 homecoming triumph upped Cedar’s overall mark to 2-3  and region mark to 1-1. Hurricane dropped to 1-4 and 1-1.

Meanwhile, in non-conference action, Desert Hills (3-2, 0-1)  shut out the North Sanpete Hawks (2-3) by a score of 44-0.

Below are recaps of Friday’s Region 10 games.

Crimson Cliffs 27, Snow Canyon 25

The game couldn’t have been closer as the score was tied 13-13 at halftime and wasn’t decided until the Warriors fell just short on a pivotal 2-point conversion attempt on their last play.

With starting quarterback Hunter Johnson on the sideline, Snow Canyon backup junior Talan Kelly got the surprise start and came out ready to play.

Kelly ran for a score and threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Jake Hill, and just like that the visitors shocked the home crowd with a 13-0 lead.

Crimson answered with a 4-yard touchdown run by Mason Topalian and a stunning 48-yard scoring strike from Steele Barben to Tyler West on the last play of the first half. 

“We just talked about how we wanted to keep that tempo going,” Barben told St. George News. “The line has been working really hard. I give all the credit to them. And my defense, they worked really hard for this game.”

The teams traded possessions to open the third quarter before Barben extended a play by rolling to his right, then found Boston Adamson along the backline of the endzone for the go-ahead score, 20-13.

“They’re all great receivers,” Barben said about the bounty of targets he has to throw to on the Mustangs’ offense.

But Snow Canyon would not go away quietly. On fourth-and-goal on the 8-yard line, Kelly fired a dart to the front corner of the endzone, where Hill cradled the ball just inside the pylon for a Warriors touchdown. 

The ensuing extra point kick was wide right, however, and Crimson clung to a 20-19 advantage.

Topalian’s 2-yard TD run made it 27-19 with 3:41 remaining and again Snow Canyon rallied.

Kelly passed to Brooks Esplin for a 4-yard score and the Warriors called their final timeout, down 27-25 with 1:15 remaining.

Kelly’s pass to a diving Teagan Hugh went off of his outstretched hand and the Mustangs held on to win.

“We just need to take it game by game, in practice work on the small things and we’ll do good,” Barben said. “We’ve only won two region games, that’s nothing really.”

Dixie 51, Pine View 13

The Flyers outscored the Panthers 38-0 in the second and third quarters on their way to an emphatic victory.

Dixie’s Seth Takau ran for a score and caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Schultz to lead the Flyers.

Jeffrey Christian rushed for two scores (18 yards, 1 yard) for Dixie and Schultz threw a second touchdown pass, this one to David Bartschi covering 58 yards.

Jonathan Bibiano kicked 4-of-5 extra points as well as a 24-yard field goal for Dixie in the victory.

Pine View scored two touchdown passes in the contest, the first from Abe Rosenlund to Quincey Jones for an 8-yard score.

Tyler Brown threw a 55-yard touchdown to Matt Costa for Pine View’s other score.

– written by E. George Goold

Cedar 38, Hurricane 0

At Cedar, the Reds won their homecoming game in convincing fashion with a shutout win over the Hurricane Tigers.

The game started slowly as Hurricane punted three times during the first quarter, with Cedar punting twice in between.

The Reds got on the board with a 20-yard field goal by Parker Kucifer on the first play of the second quarter.

On Cedar’s next possession, quarterback Koden Lunt completed a 48-yard touchdown pass to TreDyn Elliot, giving the Reds a 10-0 lead. Lunt threw two more TD passes before the quarter ended, both to Conner Hardman, putting the Reds up 24-0 at halftime.

Both teams struggled to move the ball offensively throughout much of the third quarter, but Cedar got things going again when Lunt completed a pass to running back Devin Crenshaw, who made his way to the end zone from 10 yards out. That gave Cedar a 31-0 lead with 44 seconds left in the third.

Hurricane fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, and Cedar scored again two plays later as Lunt found receiver Ammon York in the end zone for his fifth TD pass of the night.

The ensuing PAT was delayed by more than 15 minutes, as the stadium lights suddenly went dark on the east side of the field. After they came back on, Cedar’s Edgar Hernandez-Hinojosa made his fifth PAT kick of the night, putting the Reds up 38-0 with seven seconds remaining in the third quarter.

With the fourth-quarter clock running due to the 35-point mercy rule, Hurricane eventually turned the ball over on downs, giving Cedar the ball midway through the quarter. The Reds were then able to get enough first downs to run out the rest of the clock and end the game.

Cedar head coach Josh Bennett said the win came down to preparation on both sides of the ball.

“We made some adjustments on defense, and we made some adjustments on offense,” he said. “We were able to get more of a quick passing game going and an outside running game going.”

As for holding the Tigers scoreless, Bennett added, “We have some great coaches on defense that really prepare these guys each week. Our guys have bought into this new scheme that we’ve put in … and when you have all 11 guys doing their job, great things happen.”

Cedar, which improved to 2-3 overall, 1-1 in Region 10 play, plays at Pine View next Friday. Meanwhile, Hurricane, which fell to 1-4 and 1-1, next plays at Snow Canyon.

– written by Jeff Richards

Desert Hills 44, North Sanpete 0

In a non-Region 10 game in St. George, the Thunder (2-2) dominated the 3A Hawks (2-2) from Region 14. Tayden Morris scored twice, quarterback Beau Wall threw for one touchdown and ran for another and Javiyen Cummings, Zach Ford and Topper Pattison had once TD apiece.

The Desert Hills place kickers also got into the scoring column as Xander Jones had a 25-yard field gold and two PATs, while Tristin John added booted PATs.

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