Templar’s put on scoring blitz, overrun Payson Lions 41-22

By James Tilson

Sports Editor

MANTI—Riding a 28-point explosion in the second quarter, the Manti High School football team dominated the visiting Payson Lions, 41-22.

With 153 yards of passing from Jax Parry, and 81 yards of rushing from Tyler Taukei’aho, the Templars used a balanced offense to power a dominant performance.

“We balanced it out,” said Manti Coach Cole Meachum. “[Payson] really tried to take away our outside run, which they saw last week. So we kept our runs inside and threw the ball.”

The Templars actually found themselves behind after the first quarter, having given up a safety and a touchdown in the first stanza. But then Manti scored on four straight possessions to go up 34-9, and never looked back.

“Jax was more comfortable, because our protection was better,” said Meachum. “With Jax having another game under his belt, he just got better. We also put in a couple of new plays with new routes, which got our receivers open.”

Even though Payson plays in the higher classification 4A in Utah County, Manti clearly controlled the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense. Meachum laid the credit for such good line play on the “together-ness” of his group.

“I think they’re just starting to come together. It’s a group that enjoys playing together,” he said.

Manti will take its undefeated record on the road this week, playing tomorrow night at Grantsville, who earlier this season lost a close contest to North Sanpete. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.