4A high school football playoffs: Panthers soar past Golden Eagles

ST. GEORGE — Even with all the success Pine View has had in the last decade, the Panthers have never had a half like they did in the final 24 minutes against Maple Mountain.

Pine View had 330 yards in the second half, while not allowing the Golden Eagles a single first down, on the way to a 55-0 blowout win Saturday afternoon in the first round of the 4A State playoffs.

"We ended up annihilating them on the inside zone plays and pretty much all the run plays," said sophomore lineman Logan Stott. "We were able to make some chaos there for their defense and get some big plays."

Stott, the 280-pound 10th-grader, had a whole plateful of pancakes against Maple Mountain.

"This is probably the best we've played as an offensive unit, although we were missing our starting center," Pine View assistant coach Dale Stott said. "We had some turnovers that kept it close in the first half. But we really played well in the second half."

The Panthers led just 6-0 late in the first half with Pine View's only score coming on a 46-yard streak pass from Alec Mecham to Mike Hansen.

A Prentiss Miller fumble and a bad snap on a punt attempt set Maple Mountain up with red zone field position a couple of different times in the first half. But both times Pine View's defense stood strong. The first miscue led to a failed fourth down conversion by the Golden Eagles. The second threat ended when Maple Mountain missed a 23-yard field goal that would have cut the lead in half with 3:40 left in the half.

Pine View's offense then woke up, marching 80 yards in nine plays. The drive took less than three minutes and ended with Cole Wilstead catching a 13-yard toss from Mecham. The duo hooked up for the two-point conversion to make it 14-0 just before halftime.

The Panthers took over from there, scoring on their first six possessions of the second half. Many of the drives were over in seconds.

Big plays were the norm, with Pine View scoring on drives of two plays, seven plays, four plays, four plays and just a single play on its last two scores.

"I knew our D line was going to step up in the second half," Panthers linebacker Wil Bangerter said. "We knew they didn't have any first downs in the second half and we wanted to keep it that way."

This is the third shutout of the season for a Pine View team that has allowed just 13.3 points a game this year.

Offensively, Miller atoned for the early fumble by rushing for 163 yards and three touchdowns, including scampers of 30 and 50 yards.

"I'm so proud to have an offensive line as good as we do," Miller said. "They were blowing holes open."

Pine View racked up 494 yards in the game, including 304 on the ground. Mecham had 192 passing yards and four TDs, while adding 83 rushing yards.

The 7-3 Panthers play host to Highland next Saturday at 1 p.m.

Maple Mountain, which ends the year 3-8, got a seven-catch performance from Devin Barker.