CEDAR CITY — Following is a brief fall sports update for Southern Utah’s smaller high schools.
Baseball
The 1A baseball season, which started in early August, is now winding down, with regular-season games wrapping up in late September.
The Valley Buffaloes of Kane County are currently leading the eight-team 1A South division with an unbeaten record of 9-0 in division play, 15-1 overall.
Panguitch, which beat Bryce Valley at Tropic 9-4 on Friday, has moved into second place in the division standings with a 6-3 record, 10-5 overall.
Washington County’s Diamond Ranch Academy remains winless on the season. The Diamondbacks are 0-9 in division play, 0-14 overall, but their most recent setback was a narrow 10-9 home loss to Green River Friday.
Once regular season play wraps up, the opening rounds of the 1A state playoffs will take place Sept. 29 on the home fields of the higher-seeded teams. The quarterfinals will then be Oct. 2 in Spanish Fork, after which the state finals will be Oct. 5-6 at Dixie High School in St. George.
Football
In 1A football, which has just eight teams in the classification, Beaver County’s Milford High is off to a strong start, with a 3-0 preseason record, including two straight convincing shutout wins, 50-0 over White Pine, Nevada and 42-0 over Layton Christian the last two weeks of August. The Tigers are the defending state 1A champs, going 11-1 last year and beating Duchesne in the state finals.
Meanwhile, the Parowan Rams, also in the 1A South, are 2-1 so far on the season, coming off an incredible 83-6 non-region win at Monument Valley Friday night.
Parowan head coach Carter Miller said the 83 points represented the highest score achieved by a team he’s ever coached, and may be a school record. The Rams scored three defensive TDs and three kick return TDs during the rout.
“We were clicking on all cylinders,” he said. “Our first-string offense only played the first quarter and a half.”
Hutch Miller scored four TDs and senior quarterback Porter Wood added two more, as the Rams racked up 12 touchdowns total.
Coach Miller said the Rams have a talented team this year, with key players across all four grade levels. “This is a special group of young men who I am honored to coach,” he said.
In 2A football action, division play has not yet begun in the six-team 2A South, but after four weeks of preseason action, three 2A South teams – Beaver, North Sevier and South Sevier – sport 3-1 records while the other three are 2-2, namely Enterprise, Grand and San Juan.
Beaver, which lost at home to rival South Summit Friday, 27-13, has made three straight trips to the state 2A finals, meeting South Summit in the title game each time. The Beavers beat Wildcats in the 2A championship games in 2015 and 2016, but the Wildcats, a perennial presence in the 2A playoffs, won the state title last year.
After losing their first two preseason games, the Enterprise Wolves have posted two big wins in a row. The beat North Summit on the road 42-0 on Aug. 31, with Tyler Hess and QB Ryan Holt combining to score five TDs. Then, Friday at home against Gunnison, the Wolves rolled to a 42-7 win, again getting TDs from both Holt and Hess, along with receiver Matt Bowler, who caught two TD passes.
The six teams in the 2A South will play each other over the next five weeks, after which the top teams will head to the state playoffs.
Volleyball
Regular season action has just gotten under way in both 1A and 2A classifications. The Panguitch Bobcats, the defending state 1A champions, are off to an early 6-0 start, including preseason wins over 4A schools Hurricane and Cedar.
Other area teams in 1A’s Region 20 include Diamond Ranch, Water Canyon, Valley, Bryce Valley, Piute and Escalante.
In 2A volleyball, the Enterprise Lady Wolves are 9-2 overall, including 2-0 in Region 18 play. Their most recent win was a 3-1 region victory (21-25, 25-11, 25-20, 25-15) over Beaver on Thursday. In addition to Enterprise and Beaver, the other four teams in Region 18 are Gunnison, Kanab, Millard, and Parowan.
Volleyball region play continues through late October. The top teams each of the classifications will vie for the state championship tournaments at Utah Valley University in Orem on Oct. 26-27.
Cross country
Milford High edged Panguitch for the girls 1A title at last year’s state cross-country meet. In the boys 1A event, Panguitch was the runner-up to Monticello, while Hildale’s Water Canyon High School placed fourth.
Top returning runners among Southern Utah schools include 1A female runners Kinley Spaulding, Akaydeh Livingston and Taylor Alger of Milford, plus Taylia Norris, Camri Fischer and Corryn Anderson of Panguitch. All six girls are underclassmen who finished among the top 10 at state last year.
Panguitch has returning athletes Porter Schoppe and Luke Reeder, both of whom were top-five finishers at the state 1A boys race last year. The Bobcats did lose three top runners to graduation, however.
In 2A action, both Parowan and Enterprise placed at state as a team last year for the boys, but neither school had a team in the girls race. Hunter Lorenz, now a senior at Parowan, placed ninth in the 2A boys race at state last year.
This year’s state meet for all classifications is Oct. 17 at Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake City.
Other sports
In girls soccer, the five-team 2A South division just recently started regular season play Thursday, as Millard blanked Beaver 8-0, with Rylee Miller netting six goals. Also Thursday, Parowan beat Gunnison 7-1, with Laci Sissener recording a hat trick. The teams in the division will play each other one or two more times, with the regular season ending in early October. The playoffs will begin Oct. 13, with the state finals taking place Oct. 19-20.
Meanwhile, in boys golf, Beaver will be looking to defend its 2A state title this fall. Note: in the 1A classification, golf is a spring sport for both boys and girls.
Sports scores, photos, statistics, and tips
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