The Hive Sports

by AJ Conlin: The Region 8/10 Insider

The Park City Miners fended off the Stansbury Stallions in what was most likely the region championship game. Both defenses were ruthless, causing eight turnovers between both teams, and keeping the game to a relatively low score of 21-17. The passing game was the only way either team could reliably move the ball, even though both teams regularly use run-heavy offenses.

First Quarter

The first quarter was a defensive struggle. The Stallions kicked off to the Miners, and on the drive following, Stansbury’s LB Max Olson had a strip-sack recovered by LB Luke Daynes. Daynes then booted a 39 yard field goal for the only score of the half. The score was 3-0 to end the quarter.

Second Quarter

Park City began to come out of their shell in the second quarter, with QB Bash Bodily throwing two touchdowns. With 10 minutes left to go, Bodily found receiver Pierce Garner for 60 yards and the first touchdown to take the lead. With seven minutes to go, Bodily connected with Tyler Montzingo for 35 yards, and extended the lead to 14-3. With just a minute and a half left to go, QB Coleman Dearden found WR Kanden Hadlock for the touchdown, putting the score at 14-10 going into the half.

Third Quarter

The whole third quarter was a defensive struggle, with the only score being a touchdown to change the lead with just 3:23 left to go. Dearden found WR Noah Nunley for a 47 yard catch and run ending with a celebration in the end zone. The score going into the final quarter of play was 14-17.

Fourth Quarter

The final quarter was a huge battle for both teams. The Miners were able to answer with another passing touchdown from Bodily to Charlie Cusimano. Cusimano took the ball 59 yards to the end zone and took the lead from the Stallions. Stansbury was looking close to mounting a good drive, but couldn’t stay away from turnovers. The Miners broke the Stallions, winning 21-17.

Keys Moments

Defense was the highlight of this game. The Miners ended up with 98 total tackles, nine tackles for loss, seven sacks, two forced fumbles and recoveries, four interceptions, and a blocked field goal. The Stallions had just 54 total tackles with three tackles for loss, one sack, a recovered strip-sack, and the stats say one interception. They were also able to stop Park City’s Dave Dellenbach from kicking any of his three field goals through the uprights.

The Miners fought hard, and deserved the win after their showing in that game. They’ll travel down to Cottonwood in their next game, and you can only imagine how that game is going to go. Look out for that game on Friday at 7 p.m.

After this game, the Stallions should be proud. They fought incredibly hard, and just barely succumbed to the Park City defense. They’ll play another tough game this week, when they travel down to South-Central Utah to play Crimson Cliffs on Friday at 7 p.m.

Featured image credit: Spencer Heaps, Deseret News