MT. PLEASANT—Homecoming ended on a sour note for North Sanpete football as the Hawks gave up a 12-point lead and fell to Canyon View, 34-32, last Friday.
The Hawks led, 19-7, in the first half, but the Falcons scored before halftime, continued on a 20-0 run through the third quarter, and kept North Sanpete at arm’s length the rest of the way. The loss made North Sanpete 0-1 in Region 14 with a 2-4 overall record.
Canyon View attacked the North Sanpete furiously with a no-huddle offensive gameplan. The Falcons burned the Hawk defense for more than 500 total yards.
It wasn’t a rough day at all for the Hawk offense, who moved the ball well over the course of the game other than during a rough third quarter.
Senior quarterback Ty Allan completed 26 of 45 passes for 335 yards and three touchdowns, adding up to 10 touchdown passes on the season. Allen also ran for the Hawks two rushing scores, tying his career-high for scoring in a game.
Allan’s scoring throws were all more than 25 yards to three different receivers. Senior P.J. Cook, sophomore Brock Jacobson and senior Jorge Murillo each reeled in a score. Murillo’s touchdown catch was the first of his varsity career.
Yellow flags flew wild the whole game as both teams dealt with an incredible number of penalties.
The Hawks got things going the right way early when Allan found Cook on trips to the right. Cook followed a host of blockers and burned through 49 yards for a touchdown on the first drive of the game. The play was Allan’s longest passing touchdown of his career.
North Sanpete recovered a fumble on a strip-sack by senior Keegan Strickland to get a chance at a quick score, but a flag negated a touchdown catch, and the Hawks turned the ball over on downs a few plays later.
To add to the sting, Canyon View answered right back with a fast-moving drive culminating in a 6-yard touchdown run, and the after-point gave the Falcons their first lead of the game, 7-6.
Needing to answer, the Hawks pushed their next drive out to midfield and lined their receivers out left in a diamond formation. It looked like a clear screen play, but it was cleverer than that as Murillo slipped out of the formation from his tight end position, and Allan floated a pass to him so he could go completely untouched and unchallenged into the endzone for 49 yards.
After stopping Canyon View’s next possession, the Hawks found a quick way in- side the Falcons’ 5-yard line as Keegan Strickland nearly broke the plane on a big pass play. Two plays later, Bird dialed up a pile-pusher as Allan snuck up the middle with his line and scored a 2-yard touchdown.
With just over 4 minutes to go, the Hawks may have felt a little too energetic as they attempted an onside kick, which Canyon View recovered flawlessly. The Falcons took advantage of the short field and scored within 3 minutes on another short run. The Hawks led at halftime, 19-13.
Coming out of the half, Canyon View’s first drive end- ed with a fumble, and after failing to convert, North Sanpete punted the ball down to the 9-yard line.
Poor field position unfortunately didn’t hamper the Falcons much, as their prolific senior receiver Nick Macias got involved in the game and torched the Hawks’ secondary for massive gains, culminating in a 25-yard touchdown reception.
On Canyon View’s next possession, North Sanpete thought they had the drive stopped when the Falcons’ Traie Buhler bobbled a pass on third down, but the back judge flagged the North Sanpete defender for pass interference. The call came a considerable amount of time after the play was over, enraging Bird and the home crowd.
A few plays later, Macias struck again, catching a deep pass with Jacobson falling down behind him, and taking it 44 yards for the score and a 27-19 lead.
Needing to answer, the Hawks got downfield quickly when Cook got over 30 yards on a screen pass. A pass at- tempt to Strickland in the end- zone with a defender closing in was apparently enough for a makeup pass interference call on Canyon View. That got the Hawks in the redzone. Then on fourth-and-long, Allan made a highlight-reel play, scrambling out of the pocket and evading multiple defenders for a 12- yard touchdown run.
Canyon View quickly answered with a string of long passes, ending with 23-yard touchdown pass to Buhler. But in the fourth quarter, Allan once again extended a play, running away from multiple defenders and launching a pass to an uncovered Brock Jacobson for the score.
Strickland got another strip-sack of Canyon View’s quarterback to set up the Hawks with one last shot in the final minutes, but the Hawks failed to convert a first down, and the Falcons took home the win.
North Sanpete remains at home this Friday in their toughest region game against rival Juab.
