DRAPER — Chants from the Corner Canyon student section of “thanks for practice” were probably the last things Skyridge’s players expected to hear Thursday night.
After all, this was a showdown between No. 1 and No. 2 in 6A, teams who’d previously grinded out defensive wins over Lone Peak and who on paper seemed evenly matched.
“We know they wanted us and we wanted them, and we knew it was going to be an aggressive battle so running up on them really feels good for sure.” — Corner Canyon defensive lineman Van Fillinger
Even early on the showdown was shaping up to be a good one as the rivals from opposite sides of the point of the mountain swapped touchdowns in a tightly-contested game.
That’s where the similarities ended.
Corner Canyon obliterated Skyridge in the second quarter scoring 42 straight points, and the entire second half was played with the mercy-rule running clock as the Chargers rolled to the 56-22 win — leading by as many as 49 points late in the third quarter.
“We know they wanted us and we wanted them, and we knew it was going to be an aggressive battle so running up on them really feels good for sure,” said Corner Canyon defensive lineman Van Fillinger, who gave the Skyridge O-line fits all game.
As good as Corner Canyon has been all season in running its record up to 9-0, coach Eric Kjar said Thursday’s win might’ve been the best of them all.
“We just wanted to come out and be sharp. We felt like we hadn’t played our best football yet to this point, so that was kind of a big deal for us. We really, really wanted to come out and get after it and we felt like we did finally. We’ve been waiting to do that all year,” said Kjar, who said preparation this week from his players was a bit more fiery than normal with Skyridge on the schedule.
Despite the blowout, Skyridge started the game great. It flipped fields with a couple of third down conversions on its opening drive, and even though it punted, when Corner Canyon fumbled on its first offensive series the Falcons were in prime position to capitalize.
Jeter Fenton’s 4-yard TD run at the 5:59 mark of the first quarter gave Skyridge the early momentum, leading 7-0.
Corner Canyon answered back quickly, though, with a Cole Hagen 21-yard TD screen pass to Austin Bell, and with the game tied 7-7 after the first quarter, the No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown looked like it might live up to the hype.
- Watch replay: Corner Canyon 56, Skyridge 22
The second quarter played out very, very differently. The Chargers torched the visitors in the second quarter scoring 42 straight points to race to a 49-7 halftime lead.
Kobe Peters, Noah Kjar and Talmage Handley all caught TD passes from Hagen in the second quarter, with Bell adding two more rushing touchdowns and then Andrew McDonald returning an interception for a score.
McDonald’s 53-yard interception return early in the second quarter extended the lead to 21-7 and seemed to visibly break the spirits of the Falcons, who beat Lone Peak last week to set up the Week 9 showdown.
“He’s a beast. He’s kind of underrated, he has the most picks in Corner Canyon history,” said Fillinger.
The punctuation mark on the dominance came during a two-play stretch midway through the quarter. Skyridge fumbled on a third and 25, and on the first play of Corner Canyon’s ensuing drive, Bell stiff-armed his way around the right edge for the 24-yard TD run and the 28-7 lead.
Bell finished the game with 105 yards of total offense — 85 rushing — and three touchdowns on just 12 touches.
Hagen was equally as efficient completing 13 of 17 passes for 275 yards and five touchdowns.