Cedar's defense holds twice late to fend off Canyon View comeback bid

Cedar High’s defense stopped Canyon View on a 4th and goal, and a last-second Hail Mary by the Falcons fell incomplete, as the Reds earned their first win of the season, 28-21, against their inter-Cedar rivals.

Canyon View drove all the way to the Cedar two yard-line with just over a minute to go. With their backs against the wall and feet in their own endzone, the Cedar defense came up with the stop.

“It came down to who wanted it more, to me,” said linebacker Bryson Bennett. “Our coaches were like, ‘We can’t blow this.’ We had a great first half, but right now we’re just a first-half team and we got to figure out a way to win the second half, but we all came together and found a way to win.”

The Falcon defense forced a quick three-and-out and got one final shot.

A pair of shots towards the end zone fell short, as Cedar’s defense once again came up large.

It was a tale of two halves for both sides on Friday night.

The Reds’ offense clicked early and often, with Koden Lunt throwing for three scores in the opening half.

Lunt first hit TreDyn Elliott on a 3rd and 9 for a 15-yard touchdown.

The junior quarterback then found Conner Hardman for a 56-yard score on a 3rd and 15 on the next Cedar possession.

“He’s getting better with his reads,” said head coach Josh Bennett. “He’s getting better with his read downfield and run reads and doing a better job of running the offense.”

A screen to Devin Crenshaw put Cedar up 21-0, and a touchdown by Matthew Villa-Rowe had the Reds up 28-0 with over six minutes left in the half.

Instead of being discouraged, the Falcons dug in.

Canyon View started to mount their comeback late in the first half. Jaxon Jensen teamed up with Nick Macias with 31.5 to play, and the two connected again from six yards on the opening drive of the second half to cut the lead to 28-14.

“Football is a game of momentum,” said head coach Josh Bennett. “I mean they got some momentum going into halftime and made some great adjustments at halftime, came back out, and made a run at it. Our team just needs to learn to keep playing.”

A fade from Jensen to Traie Buhner made it a one-score game early in the third.

“Just to keep playing. We just said, ‘Hey, these guys are making a run and we just got to keep playing.' I was proud of how our defense got stops when we needed to. Our defense has been solid all year and I thought we started out strong, but we just quit playing.”

The Cedar defense has proven to be the strength of the Reds through three games.

Against Spanish Fork, the Reds held the Dons to just ten points in a 10-3. Last week against 3A power Juab, the defense allowed just 14 points in the first half but ran out of gas down the stretch in a 37-20 loss.

“Our D-line the last couple of games have done a phenomenal job, as have our linebackers,” said Bennett, who had 21 tackles in the win. “Our linebackers have done a good job, reading and blitzing.”

Cedar opens Region 10 play next Friday against Snow Canyon (1-2).

The Warriors have been shut out in each of their last two games, including a 24-0 loss to Ridgeline on Friday night.

Sean Ellertson is a sports reporter for the St. George Spectrum & Daily News. To continue to support his work, please subscribe to The Spectrum. Follow Sean on Twitter @SeanEllertson.

This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Cedar's defense holds twice late to fend off Canyon View comeback bid