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CEDAR CITY – Following a one-score loss last week, the Cedar Reds defended their home field against the Hurricane Tigers Friday night, taking the game down to its final minute before pulling off the 28-21 victory.
It was a pass-heavy game for both offenses, but the Reds outperformed their opponents just enough to improve their record to 3-3. The Tigers, after their first of three road games in a row, fell to 2-4.
Hurricane was their own worst enemy in the opening possession, pushing themselves back a total of 25 yards due to penalties. Still, the offense did not leave the field empty handed, as Dylyn Gabriel threw his first touchdown pass of the night to Alovao Fano for an early 7-0 lead.
Cedar had to complete two fourth-down conversions in order to tie the game, including a fourth-down touchdown run by Caleb Paule to cap off the drive.
An onside kick attempt let the Tigers take over in Reds territory, but they were unable to pull off the same magic.
Gabriel threw an incomplete pass to turn the ball over on downs, and Cedar was granted an opportunity to take the lead. The drive lasted less than a minute, with Dylan Crowley catching an Everett Kelling pass around midfield and outrunning all Hurricane defenders for the quick score.
"The week before, we had some long balls and we didn't really get them," Crowley said. "So at practice we worked on those. It was both of us — quarterbacks and wide receivers — just chemistry things."
With kicker Jake Jenkins missing the PAT, Hurricane was allowed to do more than just tie the game. They did just that as Gabriel tossed to Austyn McRoberts in the end zone, and Chasten Yasuda nailed the kick to build a 14-13 advantage.
The Cedar offense went back to work once more before halftime, helped downfield by a big Krew Giles reception before Kelling and Crowley connected again to enter the locker room up 20-14. It was Crowley's sixth touchdown of the season and the first multi-touchdown game of his varsity career.
"Freshman year, (Kelling) was quarterback and I was receiver, so we had that really good chemistry. Then he got moved up to varsity, and I was super excited for him; and this year I got him back, so I'm really excited," Crowley said.
Hurricane started off the second half by recovering their own onside kick, with only half the field left to the end zone. They finished the drive with a touchdown pass from Gabriel to Brody Jacobs, putting the Tigers ahead by a single point.
The Tigers forced a three-and-out before giving up a turnover of their own. Gabriel was picked off by Cedar's Trace Oveson, and the Reds' resulting possession took the game into the fourth quarter.
With just over nine minutes to go, the Reds faced a fourth-and-15 situation in enemy territory. They tried to repeat their success from the first half, but Kelling's pass was intercepted by Jacobs, who took the ball all the way to the Cedar 24-yard line.
Hurricane took as much time off the clock as they could before finding themselves on fourth down at the 2-yard line. The Cedar defense, led heavily by JT Orr, held strong and forced a turnover on downs to give their offense the ball with 2:29 left.
"Defense did their job, forced a stop, but we knew we were gonna have to score either way," Kelling said. "Once they got the stop, we knew we could go win it."
With 98 yards of grass between them and the win, the Reds locked in. Big plays by Paule and Gavin Demille brought victory within their grasp before Kelling threw the go-ahead, and eventual game-winning, touchdown pass to Oveson.
"This was a great win for our team," Kelling said. "We did a great job of responding after these past two weeks against a really good Hurricane team."
After a 2-point conversion, just to be safe, the scoreboard read 28-21 in Cedar's favor. The defense, again, answered the call, and this time Keaton Cox came away with an interception to secure the victory.
Next week, Cedar will look to get a streak going as they face Pine View on the road. The 3-3 Panthers lost 34-27 to Hurricane last week, but will enter the game following their 35-34 overtime win over Dixie.
Hurricane will travel to Snow Canyon, who topped Cedar 21-14 last week, but suffered a 35-6 defeat to Crimson Cliffs this week.
