The Stansbury Stallions took on the Olympus Titans on Friday, November 4th in the 2022 UHSAA State Championship quarterfinals. The Titans, ranked number 21, pulled off some close upsets to get to the quarterfinals. However, they were unable to pull another one off against the stout Stallion defense, which only allowed seven points. Stansbury’s offense also played a huge role in the game, scoring 42.
The first quarter:
To start, Olympus won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. After the kickoff, the Stallions received the ball at their own 26. They immediately went to work, with a 35-yard pass from Ezra Harris to Brock Wilson. Harris then took the ball another 15 yards to get Stansbury ever closer to the end zone. After a couple of plays, the Stallions were faced with third and five at the Olympus 18-yard line. Dylan Hamilton then took the ball past the goal line to put them up 6-0 with 10:54 to go. Luke Daynes kicked the extra point through the uprights, making it 7-0.
The Stallions kicked off to the Titans and put it at their 21-yard line. Olympus then put together a four-minute, 10-play, 79-yard scoring drive. Their drive was capped off by a fourth down 40-yard pass from Chase Moseley to Luke Bryant, making the score 6-7 with 6:30 left to go. Will Rigby kicked a good extra point to tie the game up 7-7.
Stansbury received the ball at their own 25 and put together a four-and-a-half minute, 12 play, 67-yard drive, which stalled out at the eight-yard line. Daynes went out to attempt the field goal but ended up missing it to the left. The Stallions turned the ball over at their own 20-yard line. The quarter ended with Olympus looking at a fourth and 10.
The second quarter:
The second quarter started with a less-than-stellar 28-yard punt. Stansbury started a promising drive at the 48, but Mateaki Helu fumbled the ball. After a singular Titan run for no gain, Stansbury’s Bracken Matthews hauled in an impressive one-handed interception at the 42-yard line.
It didn’t take long for the Stallions to start marching down the field, as Harris threw a 20-yard pass to Mason Maxwell. After four consecutive runs to Helu, Harris tucked the ball and ran into the end zone for three yards and six points, putting Stansbury ahead 13-7 with 7:27 left in the half. Daynes made the extra point to put the Stallions at 14-7.
The Stallions then kicked off to Olympus, in which the Titans returned to their own 47-yard line. Olympus then went three and out in two minutes and punted the ball to Stansbury, where they went to work at their own 18. The Stallions put together a beautiful five-minute, 17-play, 82-yard drive to the end zone, where Harris went to Hamilton for five yards. After the play, the Stallions were up 20-7 with 16 seconds left to play. Daynes then drilled the PAT to make the score 21-7.
To end the second half, the Stallions kicked off to the Titans. Olympus returned the ball to their 42-yard line, where they tried to run a Hail Mary play. However, Stansbury’s Tobi Johnson was having none of it and sacked Moseley far behind the line of scrimmage.
The third quarter:
The third quarter is where disaster really struck the Titans. Olympus had three, three, and outs, and Moseley threw an interception to Trent Jones. In the meantime, Stansbury found the end zone three times. One was a 19-yard pass from Harris to Jones with 10:14 left in the quarter. Another was a two-yard run from Wilson with 8:17 to go. The last was a 14-yard pass from Harris to Jones again. Daynes kicked all of the PATs through the uprights.
The fourth quarter:
In the fourth quarter, there was no scoring and no really significant plays until Olympus turned the ball over on downs and the Stallions ran the clock out to win the game 42-7.
Stat summary:
Passing: Harris went 10-20 and threw for 177 yards and three touchdowns.
Rushing: Harris had 20 carries for 91 yards and a touchdown, Helu had 75 yards on 13 carries, and Wilson had 71 on yards 10 carries, and a touchdown.
Receiving: Jones had 89 yards on four receptions and two touchdowns and Hamilton had 30 yards on four receptions with one touchdown.
Tackles: Michael Geovjian had 11 tackles during the match-up.
Interceptions: Matthews and Jones both had one interception each. No Olympus players recorded an interception.
Olympus did not upload their stats.
Conclusion:
“[We] had a big wake-up call last week with Cedar Valley,” Josh Syphus said. “We’re just grateful to still be playing,” Eric Alder said. Overall, the Stallions are grateful for the opportunity to play football in the playoffs and feel as though they are firing on all cylinders. They hope to be firing on all cylinders next week when they take on #1 Lehi. They will play the Lehi Pioneers on Friday, November 11th, at 11 AM at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Photo Credit: AJ Conlin, The Hive Sports