Park City High School’s football season came to an end on Thursday night when the Miners lost in the semi-final football game to the Dixie Flyers by a score of 20-0.
The Thursday evening game took place at Rice Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah. The Miners fell behind 7-0 in the second quarter when Dixie’s quarterback Reggie Graff completed a 20-yard pass to put the flyers up. Park City coach Josh Montzingo says that limiting Graff was a challenge for the miners.
“He’s a good quarterback, they do a really nice job with him. He’s also a dangerous runner so when you have to worry about run and pass in the same guy that definitely stretches your defense. He does a really good job and he’s very well coached. They’ve done a nice job with him.”
At the beginning of the third quarter Dixie drove again and scored another touchdown. However, on the point after play Park City’s Paul Baynes was able to block the kick making the score 13-0.
Coach Montzingo says that being down in the third quarter along with some injuries caused the Miners to have to stray a bit from their game plan.
“We’re not usually a spread team. We had to go with more wide-receivers than usual there for a few minutes. That definitely got us out of our rhythm. Then we pressed a little bit trying to make some plays. Maybe tried a little bit too hard rather than our normal running game just keeping it close and waiting for a big play to pop. On top of that it’s a really good defense on the other side. They did a fantastic job of covering us and making the windows really tight for when we did try to make the throws to make a big play.”
A few turnovers in the second half allowed Dixie to scored for the final time in the game making the final 20-0. Coach Montzingo says that after the game he told the Miners how proud he was of them.
“Oh, that I was so proud of them, for what they accomplished this season. Don’t let one-night ruin what they’ve accomplished over the entire season. It was a really good season for them and we learned, and we grew and as a team we came together and really accomplished some really good things this year. So just don’t overlook all the good that you accomplished”
Coach Montzingo also said the experience this year will be of great value next year.
“We were quite young this year. A lot of sophomores playing for us, especially on the O-line. We had as many as three at times. A big junior class for us that started on multiple positions. We’ll return all of them next year another year stronger and more experienced, so we’re excited about that.”
Coach Montzingo also thanked the community for their support.
“Thank you to Park City. I mean the community came together and rallied around these guys and really supported them. Thanks to our school, our administration. All the coaches and the players. Thank you to everybody. This was a fun season and the support really does mean a lot and we’re really grateful for it.”
The Miners finished the year with a record of 9-4 and made their deepest run into the playoffs in 9 years.
