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SALT LAKE CITY — The Green Canyon Wolves won Thursday's 4A semifinal against Park City three and a half minutes into the first quarter on a 40-yard touchdown pass from Payton Wilson to Shandon Thain.
The Wolves advanced to their first state championship game in school history with a 21-0 shutout of the higher-seeded Miners.
"We really felt, offensively, we had to put points on the board in order to make Park City uncomfortable in their offense," Green Canyon head coach JT Tauiliili said. "So it was huge to get that confidence right from the start."
The fourth-seeded Miners were handed just their second loss of the season and were eliminated as the second highest-seeded team left in the 4A bracket behind second-seeded Crimson Cliffs, who takes on sixth-seeded Ridgeline Friday at 6 p.m. MST at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
The eighth-seeded Wolves had their third shutout of the season. Green Canyon got three scores from junior quarterback Payton Wilson, two in the air and one on the ground, and running back Eric Oates had 22 carries for 85 yards. Green Canyon held Park City to just 153 total yards on defense.
"Anyone's going to be good at this point, anyone's going to give us a good game," Tauiliili said. "We're just grateful that we did our part to get ourselves there."
The Wolves will play for the 4A state championship on Friday, Nov. 17 at 11 a.m. MST at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
