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Just four years ago, players from Grantsville and Stansbury played football on the same team.
The athletic squad won championships and lost heartbreaking games together. But Thursday evening, a few seasons after the group of classmates were forced to split into separate high schools, those friends — now rivals — faced each other in what turned out to be a one-sided victory when the Stansbury Stallions trampled over their foes, the Grantsville Cowboys, 33-6.
“The region championship is obviously important but the number one seed in the playoffs is what we’re really after," said Stansbury head coach Clint Christiansen. "The first round is going to be at home for our boys and hopefully we can make a big push in the playoffs and see what happens.”
With the Region 11 Championship on the line, Stansbury (6-1, 4-0) faced the Grantsville (5-3, 4-0) in The Battle of the Spur.
The Cowboys drew first blood with a 21-yard field goal by Sam Williamson early in the first quarter. But the battle was long from over.
Early in the second quarter, the Stallions put together a 67-yard drive that was capped off by a 5-yard run into the end zone by sophomore quarterback Chase Christiansen. The Cowboys blocked the PAT, which left the game 6-3.
The Stallions capitalized on a Grantsville fumble at midfield by taking the ball all the way to the five. Like Deja vu, the Stallions found the end zone on another Christiansen 5-yard run. The attempted PAT was a miss and the Stallions led 12-3.
Stallion senior, Jake Witkowski came up with an interception late in the second quarter, but Grantsville held Stansbury to a three-and-out drive. The Cowboys blocked the ensuing punt, which led to Cowboy field goal to make it a 12-6 game heading into the locker room.
The Stallions kept the Cowyboys to an early three-and-out on the first drive of the second half, but Stansbury's junior Chandler Staley came up with a takeaway for the defense — an impressive one-handed interception.
The Stallions capitalized again on a 6-yard run by Jackson Clausing that put the Stallions ahead 18-6 after a failed two-point conversion.
Early in the fourth quarter, Christiansen got into the end zone again to make it 25-6, and threw a 31-yard touchdown to junior Jaron Moon to make it a 33-6 game after a successful two-point conversion. Stansbury brought the Spur home and secured the number one seed and home-field advantage in the state playoffs with a 33-6 victory.
“It’s good to be region champs, but it was even better to beat Grantsville," Christiansen said. And perhaps giving more credit to the Cowboys than the score reflected, he added that "it was a tough rivalry match.”
Stansbury faces Ben Lomond at home next week, while Grantsville will travel to Ogden to face the Tigers.
CJ Pronk is a junior at Stansbury High School.
