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PCHS football falls in regular-season finale

The Park City High School football team knew it faced a tough test on Friday night when Logan came to town for the final game of the regular season.

The visiting Grizzlies entered the contest with a 7-2 overall record (with both losses coming to 5A schools) and an unblemished 5-0 record against 3AA North opponents.

The Miners hung tough in the first quarter, following a Logan score with a one-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Spencer Zur to receiver Harrison Fugate to take a 7-6 lead. However, by halftime, the Grizzlies had taken a 41-14 lead in a game they’d hold on to win 49-21.

After the loss, Park City Coach Mike Shepherd said the Miners did what they could against Logan, a team that was moved down from 4A to 3AA in the latest realignment cycle.

"We can’t compete with Logan," he said. "No matter what we could do, they were just bigger, faster and stronger. We were just overmatched on Friday. It’s unfortunate they’re in our class, because I don’t see anyone beating them."

Park City’s other scores came on a 63-yard pass from Zur to his twin brother, Collin, and a one-yard run by Connor Keizer. The Miners missed on a couple of other early scoring opportunities, Shepherd said.

"We actually played pretty well offensively in the first half," he said. "Who knows what would have happened if we’d have gotten a couple of early lucky plays? When you start falling behind, you’re limited offensively with what you can do."

Defensively, Shepherd said the Miners were simply overpowered by a stout Logan line.

"They didn’t punt one time while their varsity team was on the field," he said. "We just couldn’t stop them. Their offensive line is so good that their quarterback had all day to throw."

Shepherd said Park City (5-5 overall, 2-4 in 3AA North) is ready to move on from Friday’s loss.

"You don’t really take any positives away from a game like that. You just want to forget it," he said. "Quite honestly, we’re not going to discuss the game. We’re just going to focus on Hurricane."

The pain of Friday night wasn’t over after the loss to Logan, though. With three 3AA North teams tied with a 2-4 region record — Park City, Bear River and Judge Memorial — a coin flip was needed to decide the region’s No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 seeds entering this week’s opening-round playoff games.

How’d that coin flip turn out for the Miners?

"Let’s just say Friday was not our luckiest of days," Shepherd said.

Bear River won the three-way coin flip, meaning the Bears received the No. 4 seed and the opportunity to host a first-round playoff game. With Judge Memorial and Park City left, the deciding factor for the No. 5 seed was the teams’ head-to-head result. Judge defeated Park City 47-25 earlier this year, meaning the Bulldogs got the No. 5 seed and the Miners fell to No. 6.

If Judge had won the toss, Park City would have been the No. 5 seed thanks to a victory over Bear River earlier this season.

As the No. 6 seed, the Miners now must travel to Hurricane for Friday’s playoff game. This will be the second year in a row Park City and Hurricane have squared off in the first round of the playoffs. Shepherd said the Miners are hoping to make amends for last year’s loss.

"Last year, the score was not indicative of the game itself," he said. "We were right there with them and made two turnovers in a row that were both returned for touchdowns. [This year], it boils down to what mistakes we make or don’t make. If we can keep the ball and force them into passing situations, we should have a chance to win the game."

Friday evening’s playoff opener is scheduled to kick off at 5 p.m.


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