High school football: Skyridge’s defense bottles up Corner Canyon, claims first 6A state title in school history

Box Score

Skyridge’s defense has played lights out all season, and on the biggest stage in Friday’s 6A state championship it enjoyed arguably its best performance in school history.

The top-ranked Falcons held Corner Canyon to one measly touchdown — the fewest points a coach Eric Kjar team has ever scored against a Utah team in 14 seasons — in a dominant performance at Rice-Eccles Stadium on its way to the 17-7 victory for its first state championship in school history.

“When you’re playing Corner Canyon, you don’t think 40 points is going to be enough,” joked Jon Lehman when asked if he thought 17 points would be enough to beat the Chargers.

It wasn’t earlier this season when Corner Canyon handed Skyridge its only loss of the season, 21-17. But on Friday it absolutely was, and clutch defense was the key.

Corner Canyon’s offense actually moved the ball relatively well, totaling 322 yards of offense, but it was abysmal on fourth-down attempts trying to extend drives. The final tally was 0 for 5.

“There was definitely a chip on our shoulder when they kept doing it,” said Skyridge cornerback Smith Snowden, whose been one of the leaders of the Falcons defense for the past three years.

“The whole team came out and wanted to battle, this is a really good Corner Canyon team,” said Snowden. “Coach Kjar’s the real deal and I think we just matched their energy, we matched their physicality and I think that’s the main reason we won this game.”

Both teams scored on their opening drive of the game, with McCae Hillstead hitting Kyle Valdez on a 32-yard TD pass for Skyridge, with Isaac Wilson answering for Corner Canyon on a 25-yard TD strike to Tate Kjar.

Incredibly, with 41:19 left to play in the game Corner Canyon’s explosive offense wouldn’t score again.

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A big key was discipline, which often in the past in big games has been a trouble spot for the Falcons. Even in the previous loss against Corner Canyon, several unsportsmanlike penalties allowed Wilson and his offense to extend drives and eventually rally for the win.

Lehman said his players arrived at practice the next day totally disappointed in themselves for gifting Corner Canyon the win, and vowed to be better.

The evidence shows they were. In Skyridge’s first seven games, including Game 7 against Corner Canyon, it averaged 9.7 penalties per game, several of the 15-yard variety. In the last seven games the Falcons averaged just 6.5 penalties per game — including a season-low five in each of the semifinal and championship.

“In order to become a champion you have to control your own emotions, control everything, so that was really important,” said Skyridge’s Tausili Akana, who recorded 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks to lead the way defensively.

Lehman said another one of the heroes defensively was Sione Westover, who sprained his knee in the first quarter but refused to leave the game, playing the last three quarters with a brace on his knee.

“Unbelievably gutsy,” said Lehman. “There are a lot of heroes in this game, but you can’t leave him out of that.”

Every Skyridge player came up clutch in bottling up Corner Canyon, and it was all about those fourth-down stops — two in the first half and three in the second half.

The first came early in the second quarter on a fourth-and-3 from Skyridge’s 27-yard line. The Chargers were certainly in field goal range, but opted for a slant pass on fourth down and gained two yards.

The second failed conversion came with less than 20 seconds left in the half on a fourth-and-5 at Skyridge’s 31-yard line. The result was an incomplete pass.

In between those two Corner Canyon drives, Skyridge marched 69 yards in 16 plays and put points on the board for the 10-7 lead with a 23-yard field goal by Ian Kesslar.

On that drive, Hillstead was 6 of 7 passing for 47 yards as he finished the game 19 of 28 for 182 yards and two scores.

On Corner Canyon’s first two drives of the second half Skyridge’s defense stuffed it on a fourth-and-5 and then a fourth-and-2, both coming near the middle of the field.

On the second one, Skyridge took advantage of the shorter field with a nine-play scoring drive that Hillstead capped with an 11-yard TD pass to Jace Doman putting the Falcons ahead 17-7 with 11:08 left in the game.

Corner Canyon’s next two drives stalled, but each time its defense got a stop as the No. 2 seed Chargers clung to the hope of a comeback.

Not surprisingly, both teams’ season came down to one final fourth down play with under four minutes remaining.

Facing a fourth-and-2 at Skyridge’s 4-yard line, Corner Canyon elected to go for it instead of a chip-shot field goal attempt and making it a one-possession game. Wilson kept the ball on a read-option play, but only gained one yard.

Wilson finished with 100 rushing yards on 16 carries, to go along with his 184 yards passing. It was the yards he didn’t make though which proved the difference as Skyridge celebrated the state championship as its defense finished the season holding opponents to seven or fewer points in nine of 13 games.

For Lehman, he’s going out on top as he’s stepping down as head coach to focus solely on being the school’s athletic director. He said him going out on top wasn’t the story afterward.

“To me that fight is what it’s all about and the belief in each other is what it’s all about. To me it’s not finishing on top or me not coaching next year, it’s about the resiliency and toughness of the kids and being rewarded for that,” said Lehman.