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Show Playoff loss is a story of missed opportunities Opportunity knocked for the Miners in the 2-A football championships champion-ships but they refused to open the door. And in the end it was the Park City team that was locked out, losing 21-0 to Richfield on Nov. 1. "We stopped ourselves with fumbles and, interceptions more than they stopped us," said head football Coach Bob Burns. "We had a couple of early opportunities to score. The ball was in the hands of our receivers in the end zone, but they dropped the passes." In the first quarter it appeared that the Wildcats were snakebit, as they fumbled on their first play from scrimmage at their own 16-yard line. The Miners went for the touchdown on the first play with a pass to the corner of the end zone. The receiver was there, the ball was there and for a split second it appeared ap-peared the touchdown was there, tout that slippery pigskin slid excruciatingly ex-cruciatingly from the receiver's hands. "We wanted to score on them quickly, deliver the first punch as they have so many times this year against their opponents," Coach Burns said. Park City was held on the next two downs and opted for the field goal. But the kick was off and the Wildcats dodged the bullet. The Miners gave up two first downs before forcing the Wildcats to punt. Beginning from their own 22-yard l line, the Miners ran Erich Hales and Bruce Buckner, patiently grinding out the yards and wearing down the clock. The Miners reached Richfield's 21-yard line before the drive stalled and again a field goal was called for, but again the field goal missed. As time began to run out in the first half, Richfield decided they were tired of getting pushed around by this upstart team from Park City and knew that someone had to take control of the game if there was to be a winner. They went to their bread and butter but-ter men Wade Christensen and Mike Allen and ignored that fact that most teams punt when the ball is in their own territory on a fourth down and one-to-go situation. They were determined to get 7 points and they succeeded with 3:40 left on the clock. Park City, however, came right back at them as the half neared completion. com-pletion. Aided by a holding penalty, giving them a first down during a punt play and 26-yard run by Hales, Park City drove to the Wildcat 16-yard line and had a first down. On the next play, Buckner belted his way to the 12 but coughed up the ball and Richfield recovered. The Wildcats ran out the clock and the Miners were down 7-0 at halftime. Richfield had the ball first in the second half and made good use of it in driving 71 yards in 11 plays for the touchdown and 14-0 lead. Park City again mounted a charge and drove to Richfield's 27-yard line before being stopped on three downs. Faced with a fourth down and 14 yards to go for the first down, quarterback Jay Worley dropped back and gunned a pass toward a receiver on the sideline. Again the pass was there, but the hands were not. The potential first down went by the wayside. The Wildcats revved up the attack again, this time mixing in some key passes to Kevin Lowrey, to score four minutes into the final quarter for a 21-0 lead. The Miners were intercepted on the next set of downs, but Chris Carlson snared one right back. The Miners seemed to want to get on the scoreboard at least once, but again Worley was intercepted and with the clock reading 3:50, any chance at coming back was a long shot at best. Park City geared for one final drive and as time expired they were sitting on Richfield's 25-yard line. "I thought our offensive line played well and overall Jay (Worley) had a good game. Some of those interceptions Richfield made was due to just good personal effort," ef-fort," Burns said. "They have very good athletes on this team and although Jay's passes were good, the linebackers just make great defensive plays." The Miners ended their season with a 4-6 record, including postseason post-season play, I |