A four-and-a-half hour drive proved to be no problem at all for the Miners football squad, who thrashed Dixie 41-0 Friday to move to 3-0.
The Dixie game was Park City’s final non-region game.
The Miners jumped all over Dixie early, scoring 21 in the first quarter. Park City scored a touchdown each quarter from there, shutting Dixie out for their second shutout of the season.
The Miners backfield stood out in what head coach Josh Montzingo called a complete team win.
“It’s always interesting handling a long trip,” said Montzingo. “Looking at four or five hours of riding before you play a game and going down to a place that’s definitely a little warmer than we’re used to, so there were some obstacles that could have been in the way, but the kids handled it perfectly.”
Both running backs Eli Warner and Ethan Cunningham, whom Montzingo called his thunder and lightning, had two rushing touchdowns. Cunningham’s, only a sophomore, were his first, and Warner’s two moved him up to seven on the season. Cunningham has been running for the team’s hard yards this season, and Warner, the breakaways.
Star quarterback Bash Bodily had a 64-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter. Safety Harper Brent had a 30-yard pick-six in the fourth quarter.
Montzingo lauded his group’s physicality across the board, especially his wide receiver room. He said their blocking played a big role in their four touchdown rushing performance.
No Miner struggled in the heat Friday, despite temperatures in St. George reaching 99 degrees.
“Ethan is only a sophomore, and he’s been carrying the load for us as far as hard, tough yardage in between the tackles all year and just hasn’t quite found the end zone yet, and was able to finally crack it,” added Montzingo. “That was really great to see him get rewarded for all the hard work he’s done for the offense.”
Montzingo added that everytime Warner gets a touch, he “makes a lot of magic happen.”
Montzingo wants to see his team continue with their physical brand of football as the season wears on. He loved seeing all 11 guys on defense swarm around the football in pursuit.
The Miners get Hillcrest Friday night for their regional-opener and homecoming game. Park City defeated Hillcrest 44-0 last season. However, Montzingo knows his squad can’t afford to overlook any regional foe, especially with the distractions of homecoming week going on.
The Miners will follow the Hillcrest game with consecutive road games against Murray and Stansbury on Sept. 13 and 20, respectively.
“Another night for us to go put another great effort together as a team,” Montzingo said. “I expect nothing less than going out there, working on what we need to work on each week and getting better as a group and trying to refine little details.”
Montzingo is confident his team’s A game will be good enough to handle business Friday.
Park City will have to focus on stopping Hillcrest’s air raid style offense, which tends to be pass heavy and stretch out defenses. While Hillcrest is 0-3 this season, they have put up 58 points in those games.
“They’ll have a lot of challenges back there, but our guys are up to that task, and they’ll be ready to handle it,” said Montzingo. “As far as their defense, usually up front, they tend to bring a lot of pressure inside and try to disrupt the box and cause a lot of chaos with your lineman and maybe get your eyes off the ball and what you would normally do to execute.”
The offensive line will need to be focused and prepared for the pressure.
The Miners know they can’t count on beating Hillcrest or anyone just because their successful 2023 team did. They want to get the win and keep the momentum positive heading into their two game road trip.
Park City will return to Dozier Field after Friday on Sept. 27 to take on Cottonwood.