TAYLORSVILLE — Over the past three years, the Richfield Wildcats and Morgan Trojans have been joined at the hip in the state tournament.
In 2018, the teams faced off in the opening round of the playoffs. Morgan got the better of Richfield on that occasion, with a 48-43 win. Last season, they met again in the postseason, this time in the 3A state championship game. Again, the Trojans got the better of the Wildcats and claimed the state title with their 63-54 triumph.
Thursday afternoon at the Lifetime Activities Center on the campus of Salt Lake Community College, Richfield and Morgan — you guessed it — met again in the state tournament, this time in the quarterfinals.
This time, it was the Wildcats who walked away victorious. Led by seniors Josh Thalman and Hayden Harward, Richfield finally came out on top with a 41-36 victory.
The win was anything but easy, which was exactly what Richfield expected.
“It is always tough when you play Morgan,” Richfield head coach Rand Jones said. “Anytime you play against a team like that you know it is going to be a fight. You have to bring your ‘A’ game.”
The Wildcats were motivated by those previous losses. They talked about it ahead of time, and they used the defeats to push them over the edge.
“We did,” said Jones. “They got us the past two years, so I told Coach (Brad) Matthews that we owed him one. I was glad to pay him back a little bit. Still one more to go to get even, though.”
The game had a championship feel to it, even if it was in the round of eight. The teams were about as even as they come and the final outcome was in doubt from opening tip to final whistle.
“We knew it would be a fight the whole 32 minutes,” said Jones. “Those players are well-coached, they play hard and they execute well.”
Early on, Richfield did gain a little separation on the back of a strong start by Thalman. The senior guard finished with a game-high 13 points, seven of which came in the first quarter. Less than a minute into the second period, Richfield led by as many as 12.
It was then that Morgan showed its mettle.
Richfield 41, Morgan 36
Leading scorers
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Richfield: Josh Thalman, 13
Morgan: Carter Thackeray and Sam Hansen, 10
The Trojans went on a 12-0 run to tie the game at 17 points apiece at halftime. Andrew Russell, Seth Hadley and Sam Hansen keyed the stretch, with a little help from Carter Thackeray.
“We knew they’d make a run if we got up,” said Jones. “That is what good teams do. They make runs. We stopped being aggressive offensively in that second quarter and they were really aggressive and got easy buckets that way.”
At halftime, Jones urged his team to up their level of aggression and it worked in the third quarter as Richfield outscored Morgan 11-7. Harward scored seven of the Wildcats’ 11 points in the period, coming up with timely shot after timely shot on his way to a 12-point outing.
“We always have one kid step up and today was Hayden’s turn,” said Jones. “That is the luxury we have. We have a lot of guys who can make big shots. Hayden stepped up and made those big shots for us and helped us extend what was two or three point lead into a five or six point lead. In a game like that it felt like 12.”
The final period was what has come to be expected of Richfield-Morgan contests, a slugfest where each team refused to be out-willed.
Morgan got as close as three points with just under two minutes remaining, but some clutch free throws by Morgan Albrecht, Emmitt Hink and Max Robinson put the game away from Richfield.
“Proud of the kids and how they played,” said Jones. “They battled, hung together and competed. You won and that is what you are here to do.”