High school football: Miners shake off jinx, blow out Spartans

PARK CITY — No matter which team it lined up against in recent seasons, Park City has struggled to escape the growing shadow cast by a series of first-round playoff failures.

The Miners came into Friday's game against Emery looking to advance to the quarterfinal round for the first time since 2004. Park City had witnessed three consecutive seasons which were ground to a halt with first-round losses to Cedar, Snow Canyon and Logan.

The Miners were determined to not let this hex rob them again.

"We just wanted to prove to everybody we weren't a one-and-done team and we weren't a first-round loser," junior back Dylan Chynoweth said.

Park City finally ended its postseason dry spell behind equal doses of dominating play from its backfield and defense. The Miners posted 492 total yards of offense — with all except two coming on the ground — and held the Spartans to 142 yards for a 41-7 victory in a 3A first-round playoff game on Friday.

Chynoweth led all rushers with 203 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries. Junior quarterback Erik Walker added 167 yards and three scores, including a 72-yard dash in the fourth quarter.

Park City coach Brandon Matich felt relieved to finally finish a playoff game in the win column. But he also hopes this will be just the beginning of what his team can accomplish.

"I feel like we can do a lot better than just win a first-round game," Matich said. "And I want our kids to believe that. I hope they start believing that."

There were some tense first-half moments when it appeared history could repeat itself.

Park City seized a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter when Chynoweth shook off a few would-be tacklers for a seven-yard touchdown run. The Miners looked to have a second touchdown in hand when they drove inside the Emery five-yard line on their next possession.

But Chynoweth fumbled the ball at the two, right into John Conder's hands. Conder ran 41 yards before a Park City player caught up and poked the ball away. The ball took a few wild bounces and continued past midfield before the Spartans finally corralled it at the Miners' 38.

From there, Emery needed only two plays — a 33-yard pass from Getlan Huntington to Cameron Hansen and a 5-yard run from Colby Snow — to make it 7-7 with 3:47 left in the quarter.

Park City ended up fumbling four times, but that was the only miscue the Spartans turned into points.

"We haven't played for 2 1/2 weeks, so we kind of came out flat," Matich said. "We need to find a little bit more passion and a little bit more juice."

Park City put some distance between it and Emery with a pair of touchdowns on its next two drives. The Miners went up 14-7 on Walker's 27-yard sweep down the right sideline and then made it 21-7 at the 10:34 mark of the second quarter when Walker took the ball up the middle from five yards out.

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