3A high school football preview: Dixie at Stansbury

Dixie’s main concern heading into the postseason was improving on its rush defense. In the first round, the defense dispelled question marks by holding North Sanpete in check. However, stopping Stansbury’s triple-option scheme that’s accounted for 3,609 yards and 39 touchdowns on the ground will be a whole different animal.

“It’s a little different type of run. They run the option, so you have to play more assignment football to take care of the dive, quarterback and the pitch,” Monkres said. “We’re going to have to be a little more disciplined on defense and not run towards the first guy that shows us the football. We’re going to have to be able to stop the run again, and hopefully they’re not good enough to beat us with the pass.”

In what Christiansen referred to as the “giving tree” — 17 different players have recorded carries this season. The main contributor is quarterback Chase Christiansen, his son. The senior has produced 1,436 yards of total offense with 28 touchdowns despite sitting out the majority of the second half during mop up times.

“It’s been a blast. You wait your whole life to have chance to hopefully coach your son,” Christiansen said of Chase. “You know being around football his whole life he’s going to be a decent football player, and he’s turned out to be a pretty good one for us. So, it’s awesome as a dad to be able to watch your kid play the way he’s been playing. It’s a pretty special experience. I’ve enjoyed the last two years. I only have one boy, (and) so he’s the only one I get to coach.”

Both coaches agree it’ll come down to time of possession and ball security.

“We don’t want to make mistakes. A lot of times on film, the teams that they’ve played, have beaten themselves,” Monkres said. “We don’t want to beat ourselves with penalties and turnovers and make sure we don’t have any three-and-outs on offense. The main thing is, don’t turn it over and don’t have a lot of penalties that kill ourselves on offense.”

“For us to win we’re going to have to keep our offense on the field. We’d love to eat up the clock,” explained Christiansen. “Those big, long drives wear defenses down. That’s the ticket — keep us on and keep them off.”

Email: tphibbs@desnews.com

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Dixie statistical breakdown

Scoring offense: 38.5 ppg

Scoring defense: 19.0 ppg

Passing leader: Blake Barney (130-221, 58.8%, 2,367 yards, 24 TDs, 3 INTs)

Rushing leaders: Blake Barney (113 carries, 934 yards, 12 TDs), Taylor Berry (40 carries, 211 yards, 7 TDs)

Receiving leaders: Drew Batchelor (39 rec., 687 yards, 10 TDs), Tanner Webster (24 rec., 406 yards, 5 TDs)

Tackles leaders: Tyson Graff (123 tackles), Jesse Lambert (92 tackles)

Sack leaders: Jesse Lambert (2.5 sacks)

Interception leaders: Tyson Graff (4 INTs)

Stansbury statistical breakdown

Scoring offense: 36.7 ppg

Scoring defense: 9.6 ppg

Passing leader: Chase Christiansen (38-77, 49.4%, 582 yards, 11 TDs, 2 INTs)

Rushing leaders: Chase Christiansen (99 carries, 854 yards, 17 TDs), Jackson Clausing (69 carries, 558 yards, 7 TDs), Jesse Horowitz (62 carries, 517 yards, 5 TDs)

Receiving leaders: Chandler Staley (9 rec., 115 yards, 3 TDs)

Tackles leaders: Colton May (114 tackles), Jackson Clausing (71 tackles)

Sack leaders: Spencer Wihongi (7 sacks)

Interception leaders: Zayne Anderson (4 INTs)

Felts Facts for Dixie High School

All-time record: 384-232-6 (68 years)

Region championships: 22 (1949, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 co, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1982, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1991 co, 1994 co, 2009 co)

Playoff appearances: 39 (including 2012)

All-time playoff record: 49-32

State championships: 6 (1957, 1967, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1998)

State championship record: 6-2

Felt’s Factoid(s): Dixie owns the state record for most points in a season with 678 in 1972.

Felt’s Facts for Stansbury High School

All-time record: 23-18 (4 years)

Region championships: 2 (2011, 2012)

Playoff appearances: 2 (including 2012)

All-time playoff record: 2-1

State championships: 0

State championship record: 0-0