High school football: Explosive 2nd quarter propels Ridgeline to 4A title game

It took a quarter but after getting off to a shaky start, No. 1 Ridgeline turned up the heat and eventually showed how dominant it truly is by cruising to an emphatic 48-22 victory over No. 5 Provo in the 4A state semifinals on Thursday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

“I have to give all of the credit to my players. After the start we had, it was a little shaky. We had some plans there in the second quarter that really got us going in the right direction again and knock some sense back in us,” said Ridgeline head coach Travis Cox.

“Once our offense started scoring, I think we just got on a roll from there.”

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With the win, Ridgeline makes it back to the 4A championship game for the first time since 2021.

The two teams traded scores in the first quarter, with Ridgeline scoring first on a short 2-yard touchdown run by Crosby West before Provo answered with 45 seconds left in the quarter with a 5-yard Ronnie Wright touchdown reception.

It was all Ridgeline from the second quarter on. Quarterback Nate Dahle threw for 284 yards, with 235 of those coming in the first half, and four touchdowns.

Two of those touchdowns went to Graham Livingston — who finished with 109 receiving yards — and the others went to Owen Leishman and Krew Jones, respectively, as Ridgeline was able to move the ball with ease and had to problem getting the ball into Provo’s half of the field often.

On the defensive side of the ball, Cox could not be happier with what he saw from his players. Ridgeline caused four Provo turnovers, with two of those being pick sixes from Hunter Knighton and Hunter Sholly.

“I thought our defense was great all night,” Cox said. “To be able to get four turnovers and two pick sixes was incredible job by the guys. They’ve really been lights out all year and I thought they came up big when we needed them to tonight.”

For Provo, it was led on the ground by Lincoln Dansie and Teave Brown, who each rushed for 46 yards.

Provo quarterback Gehrig Orchard had a tough night, going 16 of 31 with three interceptions to go along with two touchdowns.

As far as Ridgeline goes, Cox doesn’t care who his team plays but he knows they still got plenty to clean up even with the victory.

“I love our speed out there but I feel like we really didn’t run the ball very well,” he said. “We got to get that going earlier, so we got to figure that out over the weekend.”