Before that last possession, I was telling my brothers on the field, ‘This one is on us. Defense wins championships. – Dixie senior defensive back Ryan Wilgar
SALT LAKE CITY — With his team clinging to a one-possession lead and Hurricane threatening to score with less than two minutes to go in the 3AA championship game, Dixie senior defensive back Ryan Wilgar recognized the formation, knew what he needed to do, and went for it.
Wilgar anticipated the deep ball down the sideline, leapt up with the receiver, and brought down the game-sealing interception to give Dixie a 27-19 victory over Hurricane in the 3AA state championship Friday afternoon at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
“Before that last possession, I was telling my brothers on the field, ‘This one is on us. Defense wins championships,’” Wilgar said of his late-game heroics. “They had completed that same pass play like four times in the game, and I told myself, ‘Once I see the quarterback drop back and his eyes go that way, I’m just going to sprint.’ I was fortunate enough to cover enough ground and make a play.”
The Flyers got off to a hot start as senior quarterback Ammon Takau threw two touchdown passes in the opening 15 minutes to give his team a 14-3 lead.
Dixie’s defense came up with several key stops — especially on third downs — to hold Hurricane to two field goals in the first half and help the No. 4 seed open up a 14-6 lead at the break. The Flyers didn’t give up a third-down conversion until the fourth quarter and held the Tigers to a dismal 3-of-13 overall performance on third downs.
“I thought it was good all game long,” Dixie coach Blaine Monkres said of his team’s third-down defense. “We were able to hold them to two field goals in the first half, so I thought the defense did a great job all day. They kept fighting back, but I just can’t say enough about our defense. They were huge for us.”
Hurricane couldn’t seem to get things rolling until the fourth quarter when Jeremiah Ieremia ran 5 yards into the end zone to make it a 17-12 game after a failed two-point conversion.
That’s when the Dixie defense said enough was enough.
The Flyers went on to force two fourth-quarter turnovers in the final nine minutes — including Wilgar’s key interception — and tacked on 10 points to end their playoff push with a 3AA state championship.
“Our defense stepped up big and made some huge plays for us today,” Monkres said. “The seniors in the secondary did a great job. R.J. (Wilgar) didn’t play football last year, and I was really happy to see him get the pick there. He works really hard.”
Ryan Love is a full-time student at the University of Utah studying communications, and has been a part-time sportswriter and scoreboarder for the Deseret News since Oct. 2012.
Follow him on Twitter @RLove7724
EMAIL: rlove@deseretnews.com