Sky View thwarts rival Mountain Crest 21-10, advances to 6-0


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SMITHFIELD — One interception, two blocked punts and three offensive plays was all that was needed for Sky View to continue their perfect season on Friday.

First, Jacob Zollinger recovered a blocked punt in the end zone to put Sky View ahead 7-3. Then, following Scout Morris’ interception, quarterback Mason Falslev snaked his way for a 19-yard touchdown on the first play of the Bobcats’ ensuing possession.

And finally, following a second blocked punt, Tanner Stokes plunged across the goalline on the second play of an eight-yard drive to help lift the hosting Bobcats to a 21-10 victory over Cache County rival Mountain Crest.

“We want to win every phase obviously, but tonight, it was special teams and it was defense. You gotta win two phases of the game,” said Sky View head coach Danilo Robison, whose team now sits at 6-0 overall and 2-0 in region. “We thought we could do some special things in the special teams game and we just had to fight hard to get that done.”

Trailing 3-0 at halftime, the Bobcats responded in the second half with an inspired team effort, which saw them score all of their 21 points in the third quarter. They were unanswered until Mountain Crest’s Brady Hall lofted a pass to Elijah Jackson for a 33-yard touchdown with 9:52 remaining in the game.

But despite being just a two-possession game for most of the fourth quarter, the Mustangs (3-3; 0-2) failed to threaten Sky View down the stretch. In the final 6:26 their three possessions resulted in a fumble, interception and a turnover on downs, and they only marched as far as their own 45-yard line.

That defensive effort, in the eyes of Robison, was praise-worthy.

“I was encouraged. I mean, I’m excited for how hard the guys (his defense) played,” he said. “We executed at a high level and it kind of showed tonight.”

Following Jackson’s interception of Falslev on the opening drive, Brandon Arnell converted a 32-yard field goal to put the Mustangs ahead 3-0 in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Sky View’s Mailik Horman was a perfect 3-for-3 on extra points, though his 41-yard field goal attempt was wide right with 4:27 remaining in the game.

For most of the night, the Bobcat offense struggled to establish any rhythm and capitalize on scoring opportunities. All told, they turned the ball over on downs four times in the Mustangs’ half of the field, including when Josh Aller was turned away at the goalline on fourth-and-goal following a nine-play, 89-yard parade. In contrast, the offense’s two scoring drives were just 19 and eight yards, respectively.

“There’s room for improvement, of course,” Robison said of the offense. “We just didn’t take advantage of some of the opportunities that we had.”

Sky View’s Traeson Martindale and Tony Torres were responsible for the team’s blocked punts, both of which led to points. Torres, a 5-foot-11 senior linebacker, also recovered a fumble in the first quarter and intercepted a pass in the fourth.

After Friday, Robison has earned 17 wins in 18 games since being hired in 2017, with his only loss coming against Orem in the 4A playoffs. When asked what it might take for his team to stay unbeaten going forward, Robison responded: “We’ve been very fortunate to win a lot of games and we don’t really think about being undefeated. We have a huge challenge. We want to win out at home and we want to win the next game. That’s all we can think about at this point.”


Dillon Anderson is studying literary journalism as a student at the University of Utah. You can follow him on Twitter @dillondanderson.

Most recent High School stories

Related topics

High SchoolSports

ARE YOU GAME?

From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

KSL Weather Forecast