6A semifinals: Owen Borg's return helps Corner Canyon block Farmington upset bid

SALT LAKE CITY — To the surprise of no one except for everyone, Thursday's 6A state semifinal between two of the top offenses in the state in Corner Canyon and Farmington was filled with defensive plays in the first half.

And the game turned on a pair of special-teams talents after the fifth-seeded Phoenix took its first lead of the game in the second half.

Brighton Brady returned a kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown, and BYU commit Owen Borg added a 10-yard blocked punt return in the third quarter to help the top-seeded Chargers hold off the Phoenix 45-28 to advance to next week's 6A championship at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"Our response was perfect. Brighton's kick return was awesome, and then a blocked punt for a touchdown? We needed that, too," said Borg, who had eight tackles and a sack at linebacker and his punt coverage duties. "It sparked us.

"Coach (Eric Kjar, Corner Canyon head coach) told us before the game that we were going to win the game on special teams. That's where we can make a change, and we really showed it today."

Junior quarterback Isaac Wilson threw for 224 yards and two touchdowns with four interceptions for Corner Canyon (11-2), and Drew Patterson added 122 yards on 16 carries, including a 15-yard touchdown on the ground.

But the four-star quarterback recruit with offers from BYU, Utah, Oregon, Miami and dozens more couldn't have started much worse. The younger brother of New York Jets starter Zach Wilson, who took a seat incognito high above the crowd in Salt Lake City during the Jets' bye week, completed just one of his first four passes with two interceptions.

The younger Wilson had two touchdown passes with three interceptions at the break, but his defense made sure it barely mattered before Wilson found Tate Kjar with his second touchdown pass, a 21-yarder with 7:25 left in the half to go up 14-0 en route to a 24-14 halftime advantage.

Dave Brinton led the Chargers with 13 tackles, including two tackles for loss and a sack, and Quinn Hale added 12 tackles and one of six sacks for Corner Canyon.

"We were still a little hyped, but we were down in the dumps," Brady said of the halftime mood in the Chargers' locker room. "But coach told us we'd be fine, and we came out and that happened. We just kept going.

"They hype us up on kick return and punt return. That was a big sequence."

After Easton Wight brought the Phoenix 60 yards on back-to-back big plays to the 11-yard line, Travis Hoopes pulled one back for Farmington with a 2-yard TD plunge with 4:39 on the clock.

Patterson added a 15-yard touchdown run on Corner Canyon's next possession, but Ben Stucki went up with two defenders in the end zone to haul in a 29-yard touchdown pass from Wight to pull the Phoenix within one score, 21-14 with 58 seconds left in the half.

That left just enough time for Wilson to lead a final scoring drive, which Preston Rasmussen converted into a 32-yard field goal at the buzzer.

Wilson completed 10-of-16 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, which would've been a strong line for a junior first-year starting quarterback — were it not for the three picks.

Corner Canyon's defense held Farmington to 135 yards before the break, including just 13 net rushing yards, to keep the Phoenix in check.

But Wight found Stucki with a second time to open the third quarter, as the senior wide out went over the 100-yard receiving mark with a 2-yard touchdown pass at the 7:10 mark of the period.

"It was our half in the first half," Borg said, "but the response was nice."

Dayton Runyan hauled in his second interception of the day, and Stucki's 23-yard catch set up Dante Coats' 8-yard touchdown to give Farmington its first lead of the game, 28-24, with 3:21 left in the third.

Coats' catch caromed off a defender, hit Mitch Nielsen in the hands, and rebounded directly to the son of the Farmington head coach and former NFL tight end for a touchdown grab that would've made former BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall crack a smile as the Phoenix took the 4-point advantage.

Said lead lasted 14 seconds when Brady took the ensuing kickoff and took off, returning it 87 yards for a touchdown.

Borg added seven more with a blocked punt return, when the BYU committed linebacker corralled his own block and ran the remaining 10 yards for a touchdown with 1:24 left in the third.

"We kind of held back on the punt, but coach called in and told me to go for it," Borg said. "I was right there, in the right place at the right time. It bounced perfectly into my chest.

"It was definitely a good memory."

It was the kind of play that instantly turned around momentum — even for Brady, who candidly admitted he didn't see the play because he was getting water on the sideline.

"I was pretty gassed," he said. "But they came up, got it, and I was hyped for them. I love when they do that."

Wilson finished off the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter as the Chargers shut out the Phoenix the rest of the way.

"It's everything for us," Borg said. "This was our goal, but we're not done yet. We're not satisfied.

"One more to go."

Wight completed 20-of-34 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns, including six passes for 134 yards and two scores to Stucki. Hoopes ran for 55 yards and the touchdown to lead the ground game.

The Chargers advanced to next week's 6A state final against the winner of No. 2 Skyridge, which lost to Corner Canyon 21-17 during Region 4 play, and third-seeded Bingham, which lost 38-28 to the Chargers earlier in the season.

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