Manti quarterback Carter Mason has put up big numbers most of the season, but considering the magnitude of the spotlight Friday night, his performance in the 3A semifinals was arguably his best of 2025.
The senior completed 70% of his passes for 337 yards and four touchdowns in guiding No. 3 seed Manti to the back-and-forth 42-28 victory over No. 2 seed Morgan at Southern Utah University.
It was the sixth straight win for Manti after it suffered back-to-back midseason losses to Cedar and Richfield, and also avenged last year’s semifinal loss to Morgan.
“For our program, it’s huge. This is a very good Morgan team, and they have been for years, and they’ve always set the bar and coach (Jared) Barlow has set that,” said Manti coach Fred Taukei’aho.
With the win, Manti advances to face top seed Cedar in next Saturday’s 3A state championship at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman at 10 a.m.
Cedar throttled Manti 51-27 two months ago, but Manti’s confidence has leveled up since then.
“I’m just happy that we’re, we’re healthy and, and we’ll, we’ll get into our preparation. Cedar is a great team and, and I’m sure they’ll prepare as hard as they can for us, and we for them. I think it’s great just to have everybody healthy,” said Taukei’aho, whose team is chasing its first state championship since winning back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012.
Manti never led in the first half, but went into the halftime locker room tied 21-21 after Stone Mortensen grabbed in an acrobatic 20-yard TD pass from Mason with nine seconds remaining, with the resulting two-point conversion tying the game.
Manti got a huge special teams play early in the third quarter when Mac Olsen blocked a punt and recovered it inside Morgan’s 10 yard line.
Templars senior Tala Taulapapa hauled in a 6-yard shovel pass from Mason a few plays later, giving his team its first lead of the game, 28-21.
Morgan’s offense responded quickly with an 80-yard scoring drive — a huge chunk coming on a Brody Peterson 50-yard reception — as it leveled the score 28-28 on Kanyon Leonelli’s second rushing score of the game.
But the Trojans offense didn’t score again as Manti’s defense took things over the rest of the game.
Taukei’aho attributes that defensive to preparation of knowing what Morgan wants to do after three straight semifinal meetings and five straight years of playing each other.
“I think our group of seniors has seen that since they’re freshmen and eighth graders, and just the preparation and the opportunity that we’ve seen these guys three years in a row, them knowing what needs to be done this time. So I think that’s what it came down to, just our preparation,” he said.
After Morgan tied things up, Manti wasted no time reclaiming the lead on its next possession.
Aided by a third down and 20 conversion, Manti drove 80 yards in 13 plays, seizing a 35-28 lead on a Taulapapa 2-yard run with 34 seconds left in the third quarter.
The real dagger came on Manti’s next offensive possession.
Mason hit Ty Pringle on a 62-yard pass up the sideline with 10:56 left in the game, giving the Templars the cozy 42-28 lead.
“Ty’s been ready for a few weeks. We’ve just been keeping them out, trying to get them back in shape for these moments, for these playoffs,” said Taukei’aho.
Pringle finished the game with five catches for 104 yards, while Mortensen had a big game as well through the air with 10 catches for 144 yards.
The two-score lead allowed Manti to tee off on the pass rush knowing it was Morgan’s only way back into the game.
“We can get into a defense where we can still be a little bit aggressive, and then to cover our guys up on the back end,” said Taukei’aho.
Manti finished the game outgaining Morgan 432 yards to 323 yards.