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CEDAR CITY — Manti defeated Morgan 42-28 Friday evening to advance to the 3A state championship in what turned out to be a ground game battle from start to finish.
The semifinal game was action-packed from the opening kickoff. Morgan struck first with a rushing touchdown followed by a field goal, taking an early 10-0 lead. But Manti didn't wait long to answer back and punched in a rushing touchdown of their own to tie things up and close out the first quarter 10-10.
Early in the second, Morgan regained momentum with another rushing touchdown and extra point to make it 17-10. Ten minutes later, Manti found the end zone again but missed the extra point, keeping Morgan ahead 17-16.
Morgan took advantage and added another touchdown and field goal to stretch the lead. But Manti was determined to tie the game up before the end of the half, and managed a rushing touchdown, followed by a 2-point conversion to make up for the extra point lost earlier.
In a game that seemed to be going at Morgan's pace, Manti took control, starting with a rushing touchdown for the go-ahead score. Morgan answered quickly with a touchdown of their own to tie things up once again 28-28.
From there, though, Manti began to take control. Late in the third quarter, they scored on another rushing touchdowns; then, early in the fourth, Manti struck again, with another hard-earned rushing touchdown to control a 42-28 lead.
Manti will face Cedar in the championship game on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. MST.
