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DRAPER — All his life, Cody Hagen has dreamt of catching game-winning touchdown passes from his older brother, Corner Canyon quarterback Cole Hagen.
He finally got to live out the dream Friday night.
The Hagen brothers combined on Cole Hagen’s second touchdown in the final minute of the game to keep No. 1 Corner Canyon’s undefeated season alive with a 21-17 win in a fight between the top two teams in Class 6A Friday night.
“Every day, we dream of this opportunity. Ever since we were 8 years old, first starting football, we talked about this moment — about him throwing the ball to me,” Cody Hagen said.
“It was great. There’s something special, for sure, when your brother is throwing you the ball. It makes it more special, for sure.”
Lone Peak backup quarterback Luke Romney, who did came on in relief of starter JD Neeleman, hurled his second touchdown pass, a 3-yarder to Shawn Wood on fourth-and-goal with 2:17 left in the fourth quarter. That gave the Knights (5-2) a 10-point lead with just a few moments left.
But Hagen had plenty of time, it seems, to engineer a remarkable comeback. And the Chargers? Well, they say they never doubted.
“When we were talking on the sideline before we came out, they were all talking about, all knew we could do it,” Corner Canyon coach Eric Kjar said. “They thought there was a situation where we could get down there, and get it in. They felt like they could do it.
“That’s a really good football team, Lone Peak is. We knew it was going to be a tough game. That’s good for us; we need that kind of stuff. It was good to see us gut that one out.”
First, Cole Hagen hit Talmage Handley with a 16-yard strike with 54 seconds left to cut the deficit to 17-14.
The Chargers (7-0) burned all three timeouts, and forced Lone Peak’s Nate Ritchie to punt the ball away for a touchback with 32 seconds on the clock.
That meant a half-minute, with no timeouts, and 80 yards of green grass, was all that stood in the way of Lone Peak’s decisive upset — one that may have turned the state’s top classification on its head.
Instead, Cole Hagen and his receivers went to work. A slant pass, and get out of bounds. Screen pass for more yards, get out of bounds.
Then Hagen hit Handley with a deep bomb to bring the Chargers inside the 10. Trailing 17-14, the home side was all but guaranteed at least a chip-shot field goal that would’ve forced overtime.
But Corner Canyon didn’t want overtime.
Instead, Cody Hagen stepped up, hauling in a screen pass and racing 6 yards for the pylon, narrowly beating out top safety Ritchie for the score that gave Corner Canyon its biggest win of the season — and set off a postseason field-storming of teenage pandemonium.
“I felt like there was some brother-to-brother telepathy there,” said Cody Hagen, talking through dozens of classmates screaming, “N-F-L” in his direction. “Coach Kjar was calling all the right plays on that, and Cole threw a dime to Talmage to set us up.
“Then Cole just threw a good ball, and I just had to catch it.”
Cole Hagen, meet Cody Hagen. We think you've met ... on this game-winner, as #1 @CCHSSportsLIVE survives #2 @LPHSsports, 21-17.
— KSL.com Sports (@KSLcomSports) September 28, 2019
An instant classic in #UTHSFB this year. pic.twitter.com/PSyFJL0zcv
Here are three other games that caught our attention in Week 7 of the Utah high school football season.
Second down
Pleasant Grove 28, Skyridge 27
At Skyridge, the Vikings scored a pair of fourth-quarter rushing touchdowns to erase a 13-point deficit and edge the Falcons.
Rex Connors scored his second TD of the game from 5-yards out to start the rally with 8:36 left in the fourth quarter, and Evan Robinson added a 6-yard touchdown about five minutes later to lift Pleasant Grove to the win on Seth Lyman’s point-after kick.
The win keeps the Vikings in a four-way tie for second in Region 4, with Skyridge, Lone Peak and American Fork all at 1-1 in region play.
Third down
Viewmont 14, Farmington 9
At Farmington, Sam Trusty’s 3-yard touchdown run gave the Vikings a 14-0 lead early, and the Vikings held the Phoenix to three points through all but the final 40 seconds of the game to earn the win.
Cole Bangerter added a 35-yard pick-six for Viewmont, which forced its way into a three-way top atop the Region 5 standings with Farmington and Bonneville all at 2-1.
Fourth down
Timpview 28, Lehi 9
At Timpview, Sione Moa scored three-straight touchdown runs and the Thunderbirds held the Pioneers to a field goal through three quarters in pulling away for the win.
After a slow start to the season, Timpview (4-3, 2-0) controls its destiny for a Region 7 title and faces fellow Region 7 unbeaten Orem next Friday in a showdown.
