4A football semifinals: Lackluster 2nd half play capsizes Dixie

SALT LAKE CITY — The second half was a problem for Dixie in its 49-21 loss to Sky View on Friday, to put it mildly.

After battling to tie things up 21-21 going into the half, things started to unravel in a fourth quarter, which saw the Bobcats outscore the Flyers 21-0, effectively putting an end to yet another successful season for Dixie coach Blaine Monkres’ team.

“We had a lot of great seniors who wanted to play one more game and we’ll miss all of them. But again, hat’s off to Sky View. That’s a very good football team and they deserved the win.” — Dixie coach Blaine Monkres

“Sky View just got rolling. That’s a real good team, there,” Monkres said. “We just couldn’t match them on offense and yeah, it just really got away from us. We had opportunities to make plays and just didn’t make them.”

Defensively Dixie had proved solid leading up to Friday’s semifinal game, despite fielding a relatively young defensive unit, although that youth showed on Friday.

“Yeah, unfortunately I think we showed how young we are on that side of the ball at the wrong time,” Monkres said. “And then on offense — where we have a lot of good experience — those guys just couldn’t come through to make the plays to lift the defense and it just led to what you saw out there.”

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But one thing everyone saw is Dixie again making its way to end the season playing at Rice-Eccles Stadium, where every team in 4A classification wants to finish off the season, although only four teams are granted the privilege.

“I’m happy for the kids. They had the goal of getting here, and we accomplished it,” Monkres said. “But obviously you want to play here twice and that just couldn’t happen this time. But absolutely I’m proud of them and I don’t think the score indicates how hard they played, at all, but hat’s off to Sky View.”

• Watch replay: Sky View 49, Dixie 21

Dixie is a regular at Rice-Eccles, having advanced to at least the semifinal round in seven of the past eight years. With a good amount of returning talent, and a proven system in place, the hopes are to return again next season, although several seniors will be missed considerably.

“That’s who you always feel bad for, and it’s the same this time. You want to end it better for them,” Monkres said. “We had a lot of great seniors who wanted to play one more game and we’ll miss all of them. But again, hat’s off to Sky View. That’s a very good football team and they deserved the win.”