Dixie forces late turnover to pick up big win over Crimson Cliffs

Entering Friday night’s game against Crimson Cliffs, the Dixie Flyers were coming off a 56-12 loss to Snow Canyon.

It was the second time in three weeks the Flyers had been on the wrong side of a blowout.

Meanwhile, Crimson Cliffs was rolling as winners of five straight and passing 40 or more points in three consecutive weeks.

Dixie seemingly was in control up 24-13 with under five minutes to play.

A high snap on a punt attempt set Crimson Cliffs up at the Dixie 35. On the next play, Steele Barben found Boston Adamson for a touchdown, cutting the Flyer lead to 24-19.

Barben had 261 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.

A two-point run by Mason Topalian was stopped short.

Crimson Cliffs was able to get the stop it needed, taking down Jalen Schultz after a bobbled snap on a third and long.

Needing a touchdown, Crimson Cliffs took over from their own 38 with 1:48 to play.

On the first play of the drive, McCord Christiansen fumbled, and Treven Alldredge recovered, icing the game in favor of the Flyers.

“It was a tough game,” said head coach Blaine Monkres. “We’ve had a tough couple of weeks the last few weeks. Home game, senior night, they stepped up, rose to the occasion and played well enough to get the win.”

“They were very resilient tonight. We get the bad snap-I think that’s Mason’s first bad snap all year. The big one is after you do that, can you come out and put the next one on the money?. Next time he went out there he snapped it right on the money. Our defense played great tonight… Our defense rose to the occasion a couple of times. Just a great effort. You have to have a great effort from everybody to beat a good team.”

Crimson Cliffs marched down the field on the first drive, with Christiansen capping the drive with a two-yard run.

Dixie didn’t get on the board until there was less than five minutes to go in the first half.

Schultz hit a wide-open Blake Watson for a 58-yard score to put Dixie ahead.

Watson had five catches for 133 yards.

The Flyers answered a Mustang touchdown with Schultz finding Jaxon Barben for a 24-yard score.

“He was as sharp as everybody else was tonight,” Monkres said of Schultz. “He ate it when he had to and threw it away when he had to and made a couple of big throws, especially on third down. He had a great game tonight.”

Schultz completed 17/27 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns. Schultz added a rushing touchdown in the third quarter following a muffed punt by Tyler West.

The 19 points Dixie’s defense limited Crimson Cliffs to is just the third time on the year the Mustangs have been held below 20 points.

“They’ve been rolling through region, they walked over the two big teams,” Monkres said. “It’s tough in high school to go back-to-back-to-back wins... I think their kids were a little flat tonight, didn’t play like they usually do.”

The loss is Crimson Cliffs’ first in Region 10 after a 4-0 start. The top-rated team in the UHSAA RPI had a chance to clinch the region with a win over Dixie.

Crimson Cliffs closes the regular season on Wednesday against Cedar. The Reds were beaten 52-13 by Desert Hills on Friday.

Dixie improves to 3-2 in the region and 5-3 overall.

The Flyers travel to Hurricane on Wednesday. The Tigers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 59-37 win over Cottonwood.

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: Dixie forces late turnover to pick up big win over Crimson Cliffs