4A high school football playoffs: Despite mistakes, Mustangs manage to hold off Flyers

HYRUM — Teams don't usually win playoff football games when committing five turnovers. It's too much adversity to overcome.

Friday obviously wasn't a typical day for Mountain Crest.

Even though it didn't look like the Mustangs wanted to win the game at times, they turned in a gutty defensive performance to overcome those turnovers and knock off Dixie 28-26 in the 4A quarterfinals.

"The defense was put in a lot of situations, and we had the heart of a champion — that's what it takes to win games like that," said linebacker Ethen Lofthouse.

Mountain Crest never trailed, but it had to sweat out the final few minutes as Dixie scored a late touchdown, but the ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Mustangs. The victory sets up a rematch against Timpview in the 4A semifinals next Friday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

A year ago, Timpview dominated the young Mustangs 38-0. This time around, Region 5 champion Mountain Crest is hoping it has closed the gap.

"If you're going to win a state championship, you have to beat Timpview," said Mustangs coach Mark Wootton. "We knew how much better they were than us last year, and that was one of our focuses. In the offseason, we tried to close that gap between us and them."

Mountain Crest will definitely have to find a way to hang onto the football if it hopes to compete with No. 1 Timpview. At least coach Wootton knows he can lean on his defense, even after top all-around player Ethan Rasmussen was lost with a torn right MCL in the first quarter.

Despite trailing 21-12 at halftime, Dixie rallied to cut the deficit to 21-19 on a 64-yard touchdown pass from Mike Sharp to Dalton Smith, who broke two tackles and raced down the sideline for the score. Dixie's defense followed it up with a big fourth-down stop and seemed poised to perhaps drive down for the go-ahead score.

Mountain Crest's defense answered the challenge and forced Dixie into a three-and-out. The Mustangs muffed the punt, and Dixie was gifted another opportunity to seize momentum. It went three and out again with 11:09 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Mountain Crest responded with a 76-yard scoring drive that was highlighted by a halfback pass from Lofthouse to Chandler Smith, increasing the lead to 28-19.

The first half was a wild one, as each team committed three turnovers. Dixie's, however, were the most damaging.

Mountain Crest only needed to drive 25 yards for its first touchdown after Matt Stewart picked off Sharp's ill-advised throw. Its other score off a turnover was even simpler. After Dixie's punter couldn't handle a low snap that one-hopped him, the Mustangs recovered the fumble at the five and Lofthouse punched it in two plays later from two yards out.

That score put Mountain Crest ahead 21-6 with 1:36 remaining in the half, but Dixie quickly responded by driving 88 yards in just 57 seconds, as Sharp capped the drive on a 1-yard plunge. The Flyers opted to go for the two-point conversion, but failed and went into the locker room down 21-12.

---

E-mail: jedward@desnews.com