High school football: Crimson Cliffs mounts huge late comeback, beats Spanish Fork in triple overtime for 4A state title

There may not be enough words in the vocabulary to truly describe what happened Thursday night in the 4A football championship between No. 3 Crimson Cliffs and No. 4 Spanish Fork, but stunner, thriller and heartbreaker might be at the top of the list as the Mustangs mounted the biggest championship-game comeback in state history after falling behind 21 points with 9:01 left to play in the game.

The comeback forced overtime, three of them in fact, before Crimson Cliffs came out on top, 57-55.

“We just had to keep fighting. We never once thought we were out of the game,” said Crimson Cliffs quarterback Ryder Sherratt, who tossed a record-tying six touchdowns.

While the spirited players never let the belief slip away, Crimson Cliffs coach Wayne Alofipo admitted he had a moment of doubt, and who could blame him with Spanish Fork taking a three-touchdown lead and then Crimson Cliffs throwing an interception on the ensuing drive.

“I would be lying to you if I said I didn’t doubt,” said Alofipo. “I doubted a little bit there, and then I was mad at myself when it was 42-21.”

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Alofipo didn’t take credit for the win, but instead spent much of his postgame interview praising his coaching staff and players, especially his players whom he said carried him.

The players spent most of their interviews praising their coach and coaching staff. It is a mutual admiration that has carried Crimson Cliffs to three straight title games, and back-to-back championships.

Well, maybe that admiration and a little bit of high-powered offense that produced three touchdowns with under five minutes to play to force the extra time.

“I told coach Andy Stokes (Crimson Cliffs’ offensive coordinator) before this game started, ‘Offense is going to have to win this game. (The Dons) are a high-powered offense and this is going to be the first championship you’ll ever see that it’s going to be the offense that wins a championship tonight’,” said Alofipo.

“Coach Andy Stokes is an incredible coach. Offense brought us here tonight. Defense got the stops we needed, but offense carried the team tonight.”

That potent offense was expected to take over earlier for the Mustangs, but even after tying things up at 14-14, it still seemed Spanish Fork had the pendulum swinging its way.

The Dons had some early nerves — likely from carrying the weight of only their second trip to a championship game in 105 seasons and the opportunity to win their first title — but they settled in and took a 21-14 lead into halftime and added to it with the only score in the third quarter after running almost 30 more plays than Crimson Cliffs in the frame.

Spanish Fork kept the pedal down and eventually was up 42-21 after Kaden Vest burst past the defense for a 42-yard touchdown. Vest was a beast the entire game, finishing for a record-tying five rushing touchdowns while running for nearly 200 yards.

Meanwhile, the Mustangs just couldn’t get things going and couldn’t hang on to the ball early in the fourth quarter, which gave Spanish Fork a chance to close things out.

No more points hit the Dons’ scoreboard, though, as three of its final four drives included two punts and a fumble. Crimson Cliffs, meanwhile, dug deep and rallied.

“We just weren’t executing at a high enough level,” said Sherratt about falling behind. “When you make it here, you’ve got to execute every play and stay ahead of the chains. You can’t get behind the chains. We struggled a little bit with penalties, but we just had to regroup and keep at it.”

Keep at it was a simple way to describe the shift that happened as a stunned crowd watched Crimson Cliffs tie the game with 10 seconds left after Sherratt tossed a 12-yarder to Malakai Alofipo and Caulder Pace added the extra point.

From there, the two teams traded scores in the first and second OTs, but neither could convert their 2-point conversion in the second overtime.

It was in the third OT that Crimson Cliffs’ defense made a huge stop before its offense converted the game-winner.

The celebration was pure joy on the Crimson Cliffs sideline as Alofipo got to celebrate the win with his team and twin boys Maddux and Malakai, who are both seniors and both scored in the victory.

The other side saw Spanish Fork’s team devastated by the loss.

“Like every coach, when you get here you are proud of your guys, but it will sting for a long, long time,” said Spanish Fork coach Dustin Smith. “The boys played hard. Crazy things happened and we lost momentum, and they beat us there at the end. Tough game.”

The game finished with record for most combined points at 112.