High school football: Pine View passes way past Provo

ST. GEORGE — If the Provo plan was to limit Pine View quarterback Justin Ence's rushing game Friday night, then mission accomplished. Of course the Panthers senior signal-caller was too busy torching the Bulldogs secondary with the passing game to accumulate too many rushing yards.

Ence passed for 245 yards and three touchdown and added 104 rushing yards and a score to lead Pine View to a dominant 48-14 win at Panther Stadium.

"We worked really hard on the passing game this past two weeks," Pine View coach Ray Hosner said, referring to his team's bye week last week.

It showed, as Ence found six different receivers for big gains in completing 12-of-16 passes.

"We know we have a good passing game, but we just needed some of these younger receivers to step up," PV running back Villiami Hafoka said. "They were holding onto the ball tonight."

Taylor Orr and Stephen Anderson both caught long TD passes and even fullback Adam Bangerter caught a TD pass as Pine View improved to 9-1 overall and moved on to a second home playoff game next week against Highland.

The Panthers started the game red-hot as Tanner Wood returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown. After a Provo three-and-out, Ty Nelson returned the Bulldogs punt 26 yards to the Provo 25-yard line. On the next play, Hafoka darted untouched into the end zone for a score, making it 14-0 before most fans had settled into their seats.

The Panthers pushed the lead to 21-0 midway through the second quarter when Ence faked an end-around to Jaren Oldroyd and found Orr 20 yards beyond any Provo defender. He jogged into the end zone for the 38-yard strike.

The Bulldogs pulled to within 21-7 just before halftime on a Kyler Hamilton five-yard run. But Provo, which ends the season 2-8, got blown out in the second half.

Ence had two more TD passes in the second half and added a 35-yard rush for a score. Pine View's final TD came on a 62-yard pick-six by Connor Murdock.

The Panthers had 420 yards of offense, but had more passing than rushing yards (245-175) for the first time this season. The Bulldogs got 197 passing yards from Griner, but managed just 33 yards on the ground.