Two quick scores by the hosting Ridgeline High football team, ultimately cost the Stallions their quarterfinal match in the 4A Football State Championships last Friday. Following a quick 14-0 lead in the opening six minutes of the first quarter, the Riverhawks outpaced Stansbury to ultimately win 38-20.

In the first, Ridgeline used a big kickoff return during their opening drive to score the game’s first touchdown. Thanks to a strong running performance, the Riverhawks overpowered the Stallions to make their way to the end zone and put up an early 7-0 lead. Conversely, Stansbury’s rushing game struggled on the team’s first drive, which set up an early punt.

Unfortunately for the Stallions, the fourth-down punt didn’t make it far as their kicker bobbled the ball on a bad snap and set up a favorable possession for Ridgeline at the 11-yard-line. With such a short distance to the goal line, the Riverhawks made short work of their possession and scored another touchdown on two rushing plays to extend the margin to 14-0 with 6:29 remaining in the opening frame.

According to Stansbury head coach Lee Leslie, the mishandled punt attempt came at an important time of the game and was a mistake he wouldn’t have anticipated at this stage of the season.

“The bad snap came early at a crucial time,” he said. “You just can’t make those mistakes that late into a season, in a quarterfinal game.”

Things only got worse from there for Stansbury, as their next few possessions came up empty and an interception early in the second led to a 61-yard, pick-six touchdown by Ridgeline to go up 21-0 with only three minutes off the game clock.

On the next drive, the Stallions were able to respond to the Riverhawks’ touchdown after a short pass by quarterback Coleman Dearden found Mikah Salahuddin who was able to run 53 yards and cut the score to 21-7.

Just before the end of the first half, Ridgeline tacked on another three points after their kicker booted in a 27-yard field goal to bring the score to 24-7 after two quarters.

The second half didn’t go much better for Stansbury, as an early drive by the Riverhawks led to another touchdown in the first two minutes of the third quarter. With a 31-7 lead, Ridgeline went on to score again to widen the gap to 38-7 with 8:52 remaining in the third.

It was Salahuddin again who responded for the Stallions, after a 59-yard pass from Dearden led to the team’s second touchdown of the game and cut the lead to 38-14 toward the latter part of the quarter.

Over the remainder of the game, Stansbury managed to hold Ridgeline off the scoreboard, while the offense managed to put up another seven points of their own. With two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the game, junior running back Wyatt Oliver punched in a one-yard rush to bring the score to 38-20.

The late score proved to be too little too late, however, as the Riverhawks held on to win 38-20 and advance to the semifinals. Stansbury’s loss eliminated them from playoff contention and brought the team’s final record to 8-4.

After the game, Coach Lee called the season a result of a work in progress and pointed to the measured success the team did have leading up, and including, the playoffs.

“[Going] 8-4 and being region champs is commendable for sure,” he said. “The Park City (Sept. 20) and Desert Hills (second round of playoffs) wins were huge [also].”

Following his first year returning to the sideline as a football coach, Leslie refused to make excuses for the loss or find anything to complain about from the game. In the end, Lee reiterated that the season was a step in the right direction.

“I think it is a work in progress and the players know how to work hard,” he said. “I am an old school coach, so entitlement and complaining are not really an option in our program.”