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Just as things looked scary for the Stansbury Stallions, a very solid defense led by junior linebacker Colton May came up huge. May finished with nine tackles, including two sacks, and a few hits that may have measured on the Richter scale, while helping his team outscore Juab 29-0 in the second half to win its first playoff game ever, 48-21.
"In the first half we made some mistakes and shot ourselves in the foot," May said. "We came back in the second half and everybody did their assignment, and it showed."
On the Stallions' first possession of the game, quarterback Chase Christiansen finished a 75-yard drive with a 46-yard run that made it 7-0 early. Juab answered with an 88-yard kickoff return by Joel Allred just 15 seconds later to tie the game at 7-7.
The Stallions took a 13-7 lead late in the first after a 33-yard run by Tyler Stevens, but Juab answered right back when quarterback Spencer McPhearson found Jake Nielson for a three-yard touchdown to give the Wasps a 14-13 lead. Later, Juab put together a 74-yard drive that ended with a one-yard run by McPhearson to make it a 21-13 game.
Just before half, the Stallions went 91 yards and scored a 19-yard touchdown when Christiansen hooked up with senior Jake Witkowski to make it 19-21 Juab at the break.
It was all Stallions in the second half. Stansbury came out and scored on its first drive as a fake punt kept the drive alive. Jackson Clausing finished it with a six-yard run and added a two-point conversion. After a huge stand by its defense, Stansbury scored again. Stevens scored on a 72-yard burst to the outside, and the Stallions were pulling away 34-21. Stevens finished with 143 yards and three touchdowns on only eight carries.
Stallion linebacker Chandler Staley picked off McPhearson early in the fourth to set up another touchdown by Stevens, this time from a yard out. Jackson Clausing finished things off for the Stallions with a four-yard run, and the Stallions were victorious in their first playoff game in school history.
With this win, the Stallions move on to the second round to face Desert Hills.
