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PAYSON — The Payson Lions scored first on Thursday night, but that was the last lead the team held as the Stansbury Stallions kept their undefeated record intact, winning handily 52-14.
Stansbury fumbled on its first play from scrimmage and Payson recovered, and then backup quarterback Dylan Wall connected with junior receiver Remek Renzello for a 43-yard touchdown to open the scoring for the Lions.
The Stallions took a while to get going against a Lions defense that came out strong, which forced Stansbury to stall its first few drives.
But the tide turned when Payson attempted to punt from inside their own 15-yard line. The Lions punter fumbled the snap and fell on it, which created a turnover on downs and gave the Stallions the ball deep in Payson territory. On the very first play, quarterback Ezra Harris hit do-it-all player Dylan Hamilton for the first of his four receiving touchdowns on the night.
Following a three-and-out series by Payson, Stansbury took its first lead of the game on a 52-yard touchdown run by Harris. And the Stallions never looked back.
"Payson played incredibly tough," said Stansbury head coach Eric Alder. "They were so well prepared with what we did. They took a lot of our game plan away. We had to kind of scratch a lot of what we were doing at halftime because we couldn't block the counter. They were beating us up front.
"They were prepared, so it took us two quarters to really hone in and decide how we're going to attack things. And yeah, the score looks like we ran away with it at the end, but it was anything but easy."
Stansbury took a 24-14 lead into halftime, but Payson scored their second touchdown in the last minute of the half on a 53-yard touchdown pass from Harris to receiver Cooper Swasey. It looked closer than Alder would have liked for his team, but the Stallions played a relatively balanced game on both sides of the ball.
Meanwhile, Payson's offense struggled outside of its two touchdown drives and left its defense on the field for much of the game.
Stansbury's Hamilton — listed as a running back, cornerback and wide receiver — took over for his team in the second half and became Harris' favorite target of the night. He scored the Stallions' first two touchdowns out of the halftime break.
"He never ceases to amaze me. Just when we think we've seen his peak," Alder said. "And they played the game to take him out of it. They put two guys over him the entire game, and he scored four touchdowns. That's Dylan Hamilton.
"He makes plays when we need him to make plays. We throw it in his direction and he comes up with it. Incredible athlete, but incredible kid to be such a focus of the defense and to come up with four touchdowns speaks a lot to his abilities the way he prepares and the way he approaches the game."
The Stallions put together a much more complete game in the second half.
To go along with Hamilton and the offensive touchdowns, the defense locked down on Payson and didn't allow them to get anything going for the remainder of the night. The Lions never entered Stallions territory — their best drive stalling at the 50-yard line.
With such short drives, Stansbury's offense and defense pounced to pull away in the game and to maintain its spot atop Region 7.
For an undefeated team like the Stallions, pressure can build and affect on-field results; but Alder said his team can overcome that, and they showed that in Thursday night's game.
"No one felt like we played a great two quarters of football," Alder said. "You're going into halftime at a 10-point lead. Only a 10-point lead is the first time this year the point margin has been so close. And kids were kinda — it was like a funeral in there (in the locker room). We needed to get after them and say, 'Hey, let's play with some energy, this is fun; being in a close game is fun.'
"So there's pressure there, and they came out and played well in the second half under extreme pressure."
