3A high school football playoffs: Miners make big plays to defeat Cedar

PARK CITY — Any team that starts the season with a 2-5 record but then wins five in a row — including two playoff games — would have to be resilient.

That's exactly what the Park City Miners were on Friday night. Cedar outplayed the Miners most of the game, but Park City had a strong defensive effort and made plays when it needed to. Miner quarterback Erik Walker's 70-yard touchdown run with 7:10 to play was the winning score in Park City's 11-8 victory in the 3A state football quarterfinals.

Cedar led 8-0 at the half, but the Miners shut out the Redmen the rest of the way. Two Cedar turnovers in the second half led to Park City scoring drives.

"(Gary) Bowers, our defensive coordinator, always prepares our kids so well," said Park City coach Brandon Matich. "Our kids have really turned around and showed a lot of character."

Midway through the third quarter, Cedar faced fourth-and-14 after Miner linebacker Greg Sardo snuffed out a screen pass. Park City's Blake Thorne broke through to block Kai Eldredge's punt, and the Miners' Andrew Proctor recovered the ball at the Cedar 17. A few plays later, Ben Portwood put the Miners on the board with a 28-yard field goal.

When the Redmen got the ball back at their own 20, it looked like they were going to seal the game. Cedar burned eight minutes off the clock in taking the ball down to the Park City 23-yard line, thanks to steady doses of running back Trent Grover, who had 89 yards rushing and a touchdown. But Park City twice held Cedar to force a fourth-and-12. On the next play, Park City's Tony Epperson picked off Eldredge's pass in the end zone.

Four plays later, Walker ran a play-action and rolled out to pass. Finding nobody open, the junior took off down the middle of the field and scampered toward the pylon for the 70-yard scoring romp.

"I just tucked it and tried to go a little bit," said Walker, who finished with 95 yards. "I had a great ... block by a wide receiver, and I just took it all the way." Walker passed to Epperson for the two-point conversion.

Epperson again picked off Eldredge with about a minute left in the game to secure victory.

Before Walker's run, Cedar had limited Park City to 48 yards rushing and stopped the Miners early by recovering a fumble at the 9-yard line.

"I knew (Cedar) would be the best defense we played all year," Matich said.

Eldredge finished with 150 yards on 15 carries, including a 66-yard run that helped set up Grover's touchdown.

But the Miners held the Redmen when it counted.

"We pulled it together at the end and played hard," said Sardo, who had 10 tackles on the night. Wesley Hedgecock added two sacks.

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E-mail: rtrishman@desnews.com