High school football playoffs: Stansbury Stallions cruise past Union in first round, 60-26

STANSBURY PARK — The Stansbury Stallions hosted the Union Cougars Friday night in the first round of 3A tournament, hoping to advance to the quarterfinals for the second straight year.

The Stallions did just that, dominating the Cougars, 60-26, and setting school records for points scored in a half and points scored in a playoff game. Chase Christiansen led the Stallions with nine carries, 101 yards and two touchdowns while Jesse Horowitz and Chandler Staley added two touchdowns each.

Nic Smith ran for two scores, and threw for one more for Union.

“We came out and executed perfectly,” said Stansbury coach Clint Christiansen. “We were a little worried because we hadn’t played since last Wednesday, but these kids came out ready and everybody did their job.”

The Stallions wasted no time, quickly forcing a three-and-out and putting together a scoring drive. Staley capped off the nine-play, 60-yard drive with a 4-yard run to give the Stallions a 7-0 lead.

Christiansen scored on a 42-yard burst on the next drive to make it 14-0, and after a fumble by Union gave the Stallions excellent field position, Jackson Clausing scored from 5 yards out to make it 20-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Christiansen scored again, this time on a 26-yard run, and Staley scored his second touchdown of the night on an 8-yard run that made the score 34-0 Stallions.

Union finally was able to answer, scoring on a Smith pass to George Kaufusi, making it 34-7.

On the ensuing kickoff, Zayne Anderson hit a seam, broke a tackle, and raced 70 yards to the end zone, giving the Stallions their first kick-return touchdown of the season.

Smith scored again on the next drive, scampering for 5 yards and a touchdown to make it 47-14 Stallions.

Jesse Horowitz scored on the next two Stansbury drives, throwing a monstrous stiff arm on his first score — a 43-yard run — and exploding for 40 more yards on the next.

A 34-yard field goal by Darius Johnson put the Stallions up 57-14 heading into the half, and the varsity did not see the field the rest of the night.

The Stallions improve to 11-0 and extend their school-best winning streak to 11 games. The Stallions will host the Dixie Flyers in the quarterfinals next week. Star senior quarterback Blake Barney leads the Flyers. Barney has accounted for 8,022 yards of total offense in his career and can hurt teams as a pocket passer or on the ground.

“Obviously, he’s their guy,” said coach Christiansen. “He’s the real deal. We’ve got to take him out of the picture and make somebody else make some plays for them. We’ve certainly got our hands full.”

The Stallions and Flyers will play next Friday at 5 p.m. in Stansbury.

CJ Pronk is a Deseret Digital Media intern and a senior at Stansbury High School.