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ST. GEORGE -- The Dixie State Red Storm held on to its second win this season, 18-15, when Simon Fraser's late field goal attempt fell short on Saturday in St. George.
Instead of taking one more shot at the end zone, the Clan (1-6) opted to kick a 36-yard field goal on second down with 12 seconds left in the game. Freshman Carlos Martinez's attempt fell well short of the crossbar sparking a Red Storm frenzy that gave Dixie a victory on senior night.
SFU took an early lead scoring a touchdown on its first drive, a 1-yard quarterback keeper by true freshman Greg Bowcott.
After a missed PAT by Simon Fraser and a good kick return by Dixie, the Red Storm marched 60 yards down the field in five plays capping the drive with 21-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Cody Stevenson to senior wide receiver Kyser Christensen to give Dixie a 7-6 lead.
Head Coach Scott Brumfield recognized the importance of scoring first, but applauded his players for staying focused.
"It's so huge to go down and score right off the bat and score first," Brumfield said. "To be the first one to score really sets the tempo for the game. Luckily our kids fought back. That was big for us to go back and answer."
The next Clan series looked like it was going to end in points when Simon Fraser drove to the Dixie State 7-yard line. But senior linebacker Nick Cragin intercepted a Bowcott pass at the 3-yard line and ran it back 57 yards into SFU territory.
"It was huge," Cragin said. "They were driving the ball down on us, if we didn't get a turnover there they probably would have gotten a field goal or maybe even scored. So that was a big help to us. Honestly we won by three so that could have been the difference in the game."
"We challenged Nick this week," Brumfield said. "And he stepped up to the challenge and came out and made a big play for us when we needed it. You always love takeaways, especially in the red zone, that's a back breaker for the other team."
Dixie added to its lead in the second quarter with a 36-yard field goal by senior kicker Mike Langston.
Simon Fraser responded with a 22-yard field goal of its own by Martinez to make the score 10-9 in favor of the Red Storm.
It looked like that would be the score going into halftime. But SFU's sophomore running back Bo Palmer had other ideas when he broke through the line for an 80-yard touchdown run with 24 seconds left in the second quarter putting the Clan on top 15-10 at the half.
Palmer had his best game of the season for SFU running 194 yards on 20 carries to lead the Clan offense.
"I was impressed with their offensive line," Brumfield said. "I thought their offensive line came out and established themselves and were very physical and were able to open up some nice holes and their running backs took advantage of them."
SFU's offense totaled 504 yards, but were unable to move the ball once they got close to the end zone; a credit to the Dixie defense.
"They had a great plan coming into the game," Cragin said. "They got a lot of yards, but when it came down to it we stepped up and made plays and held them. So I don't really care about how many yards they had, it's all about points and we held them to 15."
Senior linebacker Keauntea Bankhead, who leads Dixie in tackles, left the game at halftime with a back injury, causing Cragin and others to step up and lead the Red Storm defense. Freshman walk-on Jake Duncan replaced Bankhead admirably with six tackles.
"Jake Duncan came in and did a great job," Cragin said.
As good as the defense played in the second half, Dixie's offense still needed to put some points on the board in order to get the victory. Junior running back Sione Tapuosi came to life in the second half after Jesse Ence left the game with a shoulder injury for the second week in a row.
Tapuosi marched the ball up the field for the Red Storm setting up a 10-yard touchdown pass from Stevenson to senior tight end Alex Nelsen. The play worked so well that Dixie went for the 2-point conversion and Stevenson again connected with Nelsen to give Dixie an 18-15 lead that would stand for the rest of the game.
Stevenson finished the game 12-21 for 135 yards, while Tapuosi carried the ball 20 times for 112 yards.
"(Tapuosi) did a good job coming into the second half and running the ball," Brumfield said. "He ate up a lot of time and picked up some first downs."
"I just wanted to get this win for the seniors," Tapuosi said. "When I saw Jesse went down, I got juiced up because I knew now it's me. It's my turn to go in there and prove to the coaches that I can run the ball."
A major factor in the game for Dixie was Langston, the punter/kicker. Not only did he kick a crucial field goal in the first half, but he was at the top of his game when it comes to punting.
"He really controlled the field position," Brumfield said. "His punting really was the key to our game."
After a big defensive stop by SFU late in the third quarter, Langston boomed a 72-yard punt that pinned the Clan inside its own 5-yard line. The momentum immediately shifted from Simon Fraser back to Dixie allowing the Red Storm to hold onto the lead and win the game.
Dixie will play away from home the rest of the season, starting next week when they travel to Monmouth, Ore. to face Western Oregon University (5-3). The Wolves of WOU came to St. George two weeks ago and left with a 40-27 win.
The game is scheduled for 3 p.m. and can be heard locally on Classical 91.3 FM.
