The Hive Sports

With another week of high school football playoffs in the books, the upsets and heart-breakers are only adding to the drama. Unfortunately, following this week, there will be just one team from Region 7 participating in the playoff hullabaloo.

The Park City Miners won their playoff game against the Dixie Flyers convincingly, grounding the Flyers’ season. The Stansbury Stallions lost their game to the Ridgeline Riverhawks in a disappointing loss in the second round.

Stansbury (21-52 Loss)

The Stallions’ loss to the Riverhawks wasn’t what was surprising about this game. The surprising part was that they lost by such a large margin. This game was projected to be one of the most even in all of the playoffs, especially considering their Week 3 match-up ended in a score of 28-27, favoring the Riverhawks.

This game was wildly different from the last game. The Riverhawks went up 42-14 at the half, building an insurmountable lead. They didn’t let the Stallions score again until late in the 4th quarter, while tacking on 10 points of their own.

Both teams have limited stats, but from what is posted, the best way to describe this game is the Riverhawks’ improvement over the season was greater than the Stallions. It’s as plain and simple as that.

Stallion quarterback Coleman Dearden threw for one touchdown and two interceptions. He also picked up the only rushing touchdown of the game. Riverhawk quarterback Nate Dahle threw three touchdowns, but no interceptions. His supporting cast on the ground was Krew Jones, who rushed for two touchdowns, and Crosby West.

Defensively, the Riverhawks obviously played great, but with no stats, it’s hard to piece together just how dominant they were. The Stallions, on the other hand, had some crazy stat leaders, such as linebacker Luke Daynes, who recorded a whopping 16 total tackles that night. He was followed by Mason Maxwell with eight, and Alex Geovjian with seven and an interception.

This ended the Stallions’ season on a flat note. They finished with a 7-5 record.

Park City (34-16 Win)

The Miners finally entered the playoffs after their bye week, and started off with a statement win. This game contrasted their last match-up, which they won 24-21. This whole scenario is comparable to the games between Stansbury and Ridgeline.

The Miners were not much better in every stat category than the Flyers, but it didn’t matter. The root cause of their win came down to the Miner defense. They were able to hold the Flyers back, consistently shortening the field for the Miner offense.

The Miners threw for 137 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions, as opposed to the Flyers’ 123 yards and two interceptions. The Miners out-ran their opponent, rushing for 198 yards and three touchdowns. The Flyers only gained 173 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

Overall, the Miners were ready for the Flyers, and showed how much they have improved since their last game. The Miners won the turnover battle 3-2, which was another factor that helped them come out on top.

The Miners stay alive and move to the quarterfinal round of the playoffs. Their next game will be at home against the Timpanogos Timberwolves on Friday at 6 PM.

Featured Image Credit: AJ Conlin, The Hive Sports