Cedar football has never won a state championship. In fact, in its 75-year history prior to this season it had only appeared in two title games.
The narrative might be changing soon.
Spurred on by a pair of goal-line stands in the 3A semifinals Friday afternoon, the Reds are one victory away from that elusive state championship.
Cedar’s defense forced two turnovers and twice stopped No. 4 seed Juab’s offense one foot short of the end zone as the top-seeded Reds prevailed 23-16 in the first 3A semifinal at Southern Utah University.
With the win, Cedar advances to next Saturday’s state championship at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman at 10 a.m. against the Morgan-Manti winners. Cedar’s only other title game appearances came in 1958 and 1999.
Cedar led 23-0 early in the fourth quarter, but Juab scored two TDs and converted a pair of two-point conversions in the last eight minutes, the last at the 1:43 mark that cut the deficit to 23-16. Juab’s onside kick attempt was unsuccessful and the Reds ran the clock out from there.
Cedar coach Tye Hiatt, whose team improved to 12-0, always figured it would be a tight semifinal after these teams played to a one-score game a month ago.
“I just think that you get these games, and especially playing a really tough team for the second time, it’s hard to beat a team twice, kind of like in basketball, it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season. Coach (Jake) Downard and I were talking before the game, and kind of knew it would come down to this,” said Cedar coach Tye Hiatt.
Everett Kelling rushed for two touchdowns and 83 yards and also passed for another score to lead the way offensively for the Reds.
“Everett Kelling, is as tough as they get. That kid is a great player. Whatever college recruits him is going to get a great player, because all he does is win. Whatever it takes, that’s what he does,” said Hiatt.
Kelling has now tallied 46 touchdowns this season, but on Friday Cedar’s defense was the storyline, especially in the red zone.
The first goal-line stuff occurred at the 6:58 mark of the third quarter with Juab desperate to claw back into the game down 17-0 after Cedar opened the half on a long scoring drive to extend lead to 17-0.
The second defensive stop came with five minutes remaining and Juab inches away from making it a one-score game down 23-8.
“I just think our defensive kids, they don’t get enough credit, you know, because all year we score points and points, and we get in games, and everyone wants to talk about Everett and Slade and everyone else. And I thought our defense was outstanding,” said Hiatt.
Cedar’s offense responded to the first goal-line stand with a 15-play, 99-yard drive that Kelling capped with a 14-yard run to push the lead to 23-0 after the failed two-point conversion.
The drive took eight minutes off the clock, and Hiatt joked afterward that he was so wrapped in his team simply getting first downs, he didn’t even realize it was a 99-yard scoring drive.
After going down 23-0, Juab’s offense finally got on the board cutting the deficit to 23-8 on a Price Armstrong 1-yard TD run with 8:43 remaining.
Juab had a chance to cut into the deficit further with plenty of time remaining, but Cedar’s defense again came up with the huge stop on the fourth-and-goal.
The Wasps eventually did punch it into the end zone again on a Brock Richards 1-yard run making it a 23-16 lead, but with only 1:43 remaining they needed either an onside kick recovery or fourth-down stop to extend the game. Cedar made sure it didn’t get either.
One of the biggest moments of the game occurred in the final seconds of the first half as Kelling connected with Slade Parsons on a 31-yard TD pass amid lots of traffic at the goal line to take a 10-0 halftime lead.
The rarity of Friday’s win wasn’t lost on Hiatt, who’s just in his second year as head coach at Cedar.
“When I got here two years ago, you know, we’re not from Cedar, so we’ve coached all over the country, and when I got here, one of the big things is that people tell you things about kids,” said Hiatt, who after a long pause to collect himself emotionally added, “And I think as a coach, you don’t want to label kids, and I felt like with a new coach, everyone had a fresh start.”