High school football: Desert Hills runs past Snow Canyon

ST. GEORGE — In a family known for linebackers, Mike Needham is making a name for himself on the other side of the ball.

Needham, whose older brothers all starred for Pine View as hard-nosed inside 'backers, rushed for 145 yards in helping Desert Hills to a 31-14 victory Friday night over Snow Canyon at Thunder Stadium.

Of course, Needham also played at linebacker, but despite the iron-man schedule out on the field, he seemed to gain more energy as the game progressed.

"He really works hard at this game," Thunder offensive coordinator Carl Franke said. "He's really starting to understand the read play and also where to cut back on those toss plays. And he really does seem to have more energy later in the game."

Indeed, the senior back had 60 of his 145 yards in the fourth quarter, when everyone else on the field seemed to be tiring out.

"He would make the first guy miss and then run through the next guy," Franke said. "His three- and four-yarders were turning into eight- and 10 yarders."

The game also featured the first start for junior quarterback Porter Harris. After leading the Thunder to a game-winning TD in Desert Hills' last game in the final moments against Dixie, Harris took the keys to the offense and literally ran with them.

Harris passed for a score and rushed for two more and led the Thunder on three time-consuming 55-plus-yard drives.

But even with Needham and Harris moving the ball, Snow Canyon hung close to the Thunder. Desert Hills led 14-0 early in the second quarter on scores by the dynamic duo, but the Warriors struck back to tie it at halftime.

Snow Canyon's Brayden Linde found Elliott Knox for a 55-yard streak pattern touchdown that cut it to 14-7 with 3:37 before the break.

After a Harris interception set Snow Canyon up at the Desert Hills 20-yard line, Snow Canyon punched it in with 21 seconds to go in the half. Jorge Benevides' extra point tied it at 14-14 going into intermission.

But the second half was owned by Needham and the Thunder. The Warriors managed just 66 yards of offense in the second half, a total that was nearly matched by their 50 yards in penalties after the half.

Snow Canyon also turned it over three times in the second half and never got inside the Desert Hills red zone.

The Thunder, now 5-1 overall and 2-1 in Region 9, took the lead for good when Harris ran it in from two yards out on fourth down, making it 21-14 with 5:27 left in the third quarter.

After a Linde interception gave Desert Hills the ball at the 26-yard line, the Thunder doubled their lead to 28-14 with 2:05 to go in the quarter when Harris lofted a play-action rollout pass perfectly to tight end Corbin Fitzgerald in the back of the end zone.

Chase Webster iced the game with 3:23 to play by nailing a 30-yard field goal.

Snow Canyon, 2-5 and 2-2, plays rival Dixie next week, while the Thunder will battle undefeated Hurricane as the region wars continue.