A crowd of over 300 football fans and Canyons School District administrators gathered at Corner Canyon High School Tuesday night, but they weren’t there to celebrate the Chargers’ remarkable football success since the school opened in 2013.
They were there to see former Charger heroes like Zach Wilson, Jackson Powers-Johnson and Jaxson Dart, who had their uniform numbers retired. However, district officials also revealed that longtime coach Eric Kjar had earned the organization’s first Legacy of Excellence award.
The festivities attracted Wilson, Powers-Johnson and Dart, who have served the last few seasons on NFL teams. They admitted to be happy to return to Utah on their coach’s special day, and many memories and anecdotes were shared between them and the crowd.
“It’s cool, but the best part was I don’t think he even knew (about the award),” said Rob Geertsen, a Corner Canyon teacher who has become nearly as famous in the Draper community for his comments broadcasting on the school’s “Charter TV.”
“This school has produced so many great players, and won so many championships in a short time, and see the people who built it. It’s great to have a reason to bring all of these people together.”
Kjar replaced Don Eck and helped turn the Chargers into a local and state power. In 10 season, he finished with a 112-10 record and won six state championships, including a 35-20 victory over Lone Peak in the 6A title game in November. On Dec. 16, he accepted the head coaching job at Weber State.
“Your success is determined by what your team does,” said Kjar, whose team won 48 straight games between 2018 and 2021.
He then told individual stories about some of those teams, as well as personal anecdotes involving Wilson, Powers-Johnson and Dart.
Dart seemed to be the fan favorite, especially among the nearly 100 youths that attended. The 22 year-old led the Chargers to the state title in 2024. Dart grew up in Kaysville and attended Roy High before transferring to Corner Canyon for his senior year. He said some college scouts didn’t know him and since he wanted to play college football, he felt his best chance was to enroll at a “name” school.
He threw for 4,691 yards and a state record 67 touchdowns as the Chargers won another crown, and earned a scholarship to Southern Cal. Later, he transferred to Ole Miss and was picked in the first round by the New York Giants. He started several games last season and passed for 2,272 yards, with 15 touchdowns and five interceptions.
“My experience was different (that other past Corner Canyon QBs),” he said. “When I came here, coach said they already had a quarterback (Cody Hagen). I asked Cody if we could play catch and, after a while, he said he wanted to play receiver … and I got to be quarterback.”
Powers-Johnson, a 6-foot-3, 325-pound offensive lineman for the Las Vegas Raiders, said he came to his first Corner Canyon football practice as a freshman in 2017 and figured he might see playing time on the sophomore team.
“I was 6-1 and maybe 205 pounds,” he said. “But the coaches saw something in me and I never forgot it. I always put forward my best.”
That included convincing his mother to take him to school for morning workouts. He arrived at 5 a.m. – long before anyone else – and convinced the Corner Canyon coaching staff by playing at one speed – fast.
“I was a little too aggressive at times,” Powers-Johnson said, drawing laughs from the crowd.
“He had no ‘off’ switch,” said Kjar. “The intensity he had was amazing.”
Wilson said he felt like he was the player who initially broke ground for Corner Canyon’s amazing streak of talented quarterbacks. A three-year starter from 2015-17, he was an all-state pick as a senior, was the Deseret News’ “Mr. Football” runner-up and accepted a scholarship offer from BYU, where he started as a freshman.
“Few quarterbacks (from Utah) had made it to Division I (college football) back then and I knew coach Kjar’s reputation,” he said. “I was the fourth-string quarterback my sophomore year and coach worked with me and changed my life. What the program has become is amazing.”
Wilson was a first-round draft pick by the New York Jets in 2021 and started several games until he was acquired by Denver in 2023 and Miami last year. Currently, he is a free agent.
After Wilson, each of Corner Canyon’s quarterbacks have had impressive statistics and led the Chargers to be among the best teams in the state.
“Next year will be interesting,” said Geertsen, who plans to see every game from the stadium press box. “We’ll miss coach Kjar, for sure, but he’s built something here and it’s up to the rest of us to keep it going. In the meantime, we’re also going to be Weber State fans.”