SALT LAKE CITY — Pine View’s defense over the latter half of the season was terrific, a big reason it marched through the difficult Region 9 schedule with a perfect record.
Even last week despite giving up 36 points in a quarterfinal win over Green Canyon, the defense got stops and forced turnovers when it mattered to advance to its second straight 4A semifinals.
On Thursday, that same defensive mentality just wasn’t there as Park City gashed the Panthers for 527 yards of total offense in rolling to the 48-21 victory at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
It was a frustrating ending to a season that included the school’s first region title in five years.
“All year we’ve been good; we haven’t been given up big plays,” said Pine View coach Ray Hosner. “It’s discipline, all of a sudden instead scraping inside out and having confidence in the inside guys we wind up jumping inside and letting the kid bounce outside.”
Park City’s running backs were running through huge holes all night as 389 of its yards came on the ground.
“We couldn’t physically stop them offensively. They got after us offensively and were aggressive.” — Pine View coach Ray Hosner
“We couldn’t physically stop them offensively. They got after us offensively and were aggressive,” said Hosner.
Park City scored on its first four drives of the game, including 73-yard TD run around the edge by Park City quarterback Jack Skidmore that normally Pine View’s coaches would’ve expected the defense to hold to a short first-down run at worst.
Offensively, Pine View found a bit of success midway through the first half scoring on back-to-back possessions to cut Park City’s lead to 20-14 on a Macloud Crowton 43-yard pass to Dominique McKenzie.
Even though Crowton completed 31 of 50 passes for 410 passing yards, he was sacked nine times as Park City’s athletic defense disrupted the Panthers offense quite regularly.
“They forced us to be patient, and I don’t think we did a great job being patient. They gave us the run and gave us a five-man box, and they put McCloud in situations where they dropped eight guys out and it’s tough to throw the ball when they have eight-guy coverage,” said Hosner.
- Watch replay: Park City 48, Pine View 21
Despite coming up short in the semifinals at Rice-Eccles Stadium for the second straight year, Hosner was quick to praise his team that was picked to win the Region 9 title at the start of the year and lived up to those expectations all year.
“This is one of the greatest teams that I’ve ever coached, period,” said Hosner. “They’re great kids, they’re great character. I have not had one character issue all year with these kids. They’re amazing kids.”