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Show First-quarter fiasco eliminates Miners from football playoffs that he kept leaving the pocket before he had to. That created confusion on the part of the Miner lineman they didn't know where Worley would be. As a result the Wildcats were able to apply good pressure. In all. South Summit doubled the offensive output of the Miners, gaining 303 yards to Park City's 153. Mitchell was the Wildcats' leading rusher, going 60 yards in six carries. For the Miners it was Geoff Palmer, w ith 57 yards in six attempts. Due to those early touchdowns, the Miners found themselves in a deep hole with only about 10 minutes gone in the first quarter. And South Summit kept the pressure on. Mitchell, who had scored on a punt return in the first meeting of the two teams in Kamas Oct. 18, set up another touchdown Friday by returning return-ing an Ocey Leavitt punt to the Park City 28. On first down from the 28 the Wildcats ran a reverse to Rydalch which moved the ball down to the Miner 12. Then fullback Shannon Bearden moved the ball down to the three One play later Rydalch ran a quick slant ami Mitchell hit him for the easy TD. the third and final score of the game for South Summit. This time the conversion was good and the score stood at 19-0 with 39 seconds left in the first quarter. It looked like a blowout was in store, but then the Miner defense tightened. Neither team could do much for the first part of the second quarter, but with about six minutes left in the half a massive hit by the Park City defense made Shannon Bearden cough up the ball. James Clahane of the Miners fell on the fumble at the South Summit 28. The Miners now had the break they needed, and took full advantage of it. On first down Worley hit fullback Erich Fouse in the right flat. Fouse broke two tackles and fought his way into the end zone for the score with 5:42 left. A bad snap on the conversion aborted the PAT. Score: 19-6. That was how the game ended, but it wasn't as if the Miners didn't have any other chances. On the opening drive of the second half Park City ran a 14 -play drive, spurred by crushing runs by Bruce Buckner. The final play of the drive was a fourth and two play at the South Summit 23. It seemed that the Miners had made the necessary yardage on a seven-yard gallop by Buckner. but a holding call on end Craig Griffin nullified the play and put an end to the drive. From there on tough Miner defensive play put a scare into the South Summit team, forcing them to quick kick on three occasions. But the Wildcat defense was doing an equally effective job on the Park City offense. The score ended at 19-6. It was a disappointing loss for Park City, but the Miners played the number one team in the state a tough game. The W ildcats play Duchesne this week in the semi-finals while Kanab plays North Summit. Burns said he sees a South Summit Kanab meeting in the final, to be won by the Wildcats. Next week in this space the Miner season will be recapped, complete with statistics, and a look to next year. - f y. , - tyy " i. Zl . " V cv 1 X to 0 h ? 'Z' i f ' I j r warn 'r - ... -T - V f Y y "''. - by Handy llansk.it "I thought we played the best we could for three and a half quarters." That was the way Bob Burns, head football coach at the Park City High School, described his team's 19-6 loss to the South Summit Wildcats Friday. The trouble was, Park City gave up 19 points in the opening moments and that deficit proved too much to overcome as the Miners were eliminated in the quarterfinal round of the state 1A football playoffs. On South Summit's first two possessions Miner defensive backs were burned on deep passes, the first scoring a touchdown, the second setting up another. "We knew we were outmanned up front (on the line)," Burns said. "We had to gamble (with blitzes). "That put us in man-to-man situations in the backfield." The first South Summit touchdown came on the Wildcats' fifth play from scrimmage when quarterback Shane Mitchell launched a bomb to tailback Chad Freestone. That 48-yard pass gave South Summit a 6-0 lead. Burns said the Miners had moved their free safety to help cover Craig Rydalch, the Wildcats' all-state receiver, on that play. With Rydalch receiving double coverage, the Wildcats went to Freestone on the other side of the field. Four plays later the W ildcats had the ball again at tht ' own 42. The bomb this time vein to Rydalch, again for 48 yards, down to the Park City nine. Quarterback Mitchell scored on the sneak on the next play for a 12-0 lead. Burns said on that play Rydalch was the responsibility of Miner defensive backs Eric Olson and Matt Burnett. "They took advantage of our defensive scheme," he said. "They put their big receivers on our smaller defensive backs. For our guys to have to cover the best receivers in the state one-on-one, plus being eight inches shorter, is asking the impossible." But after those two opening scores the Miner backs adjusted. Burns said they dropped back, giving the receivers a bigger cushion in front of them. Mitchell had little luck from then on. On the day he completed four of 12 passes for 104 yards with two TDs and two interceptions. But one pass completion came after the first three drives in the first quarter. On the other side of the field, Miner quarterback Jay Worley didn't even have the luck of a good first quarter as he went three for 17 on the day for only 42 yards. He had one interception and one TD. Burns said Worley' s problem 'was 0 r""- ' ' Miner QB Jay Worley (left) gets off a pass with no time to spare because Wildcat Chad Freestone is ready to claw him. photo by Randy Hanskat "We knew we were outmanned up front (on the line)' Burns said. "We had to gamble (with blitzes). That put us in man-to-man situations in the backfield." r Miner defensive back Brian McReynolds gets low to bring down a stampeding Craig Rydalch of South Summit, as Bruce Buckner (33) comes up to lend a hand. photobyRandyHanskat |