Region 9 football: Quick-strike Panthers blow past Manti

Written by Andy Griffin
September 1, 2017

ST. GEORGE – This one was over almost before it started.

Dallin Brown began his big night by returning the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown and Pine View scored 42 first-half points en route to a 56-14 win over Manti Friday night at Panther Stadium.

Brown scored on the kick return, romped for a 46-yard end-around later in the first quarter, then scored on a quarterback scramble in the third as the Panthers offense punted just once all night.

“It felt great to get things turned around after a tough loss last week,” Pine View tight end/defensive end Brooks Maile said. “We really wanted to do our best. This is a great starting point to build us back up.”

Pine View’s Jacob Mpungi (6), Pine View vs. Manti, Football, St. George, UT, Sept. 1, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Brown started the party just seconds into the game. He caught the opening kickoff about shoulder high at the 9-yard line and immediately sprinted straight up the field. The blocking was excellent and Brown didn’t have to break one tackle to get into the open field. When he burst past the 50-yard line, he made one cut to his left and a convoy of blockers escorted him into the end zone.

“Everything was flawless, better than flawless to start the game,” PV quarterback Ryan Javines said. “I was actually kind of bummed that he went all the way cause I couldn’t wait to get our offense on the field.”

He didn’t have to wait long. After Brown’s KO return, the Pine View defense held Manti to a three-and-out, with Christian Reis shooting the gaps and cutting down the Templars Wing-T offense. PV got the ball back with 9:37 left in the first quarter and had its second touchdown 12 seconds later.

“I couldn’t wait to get out there and run that play,” Javines said. “We just put it in and we knew it was going to be the first play we ran.”

“That play” was a flat pass to Maile that was perfectly blocked and went 45 yards for Pine View’s second score.

Pine View’s Brooks Maile (90), Pine View vs. Manti, Football, St. George, UT, Sept. 1, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“It was mostly my team,” said Maile, who has committed to play at BYU in 2019. “The linemen blocking for Ryan and Ryan getting me the ball and then Hunter Moore blocking downfield so I could escape for that touchdown. I play rugby, so I knew what to do. But no one touched me.”

Manti got a first down in the next possession, but still had to punt. Pine View got it at midfield and star running back Jacob Mpungi took advantage of his first touch of the game to sprint 50 yards for a third TD, just 5:24 into the game.

After another Manti punt, Brown got his second score of the night. He took an end-around handoff from Javines and broke two tackles on the right side, then made two cuts and ended up in the end zone on the left side of the field for a 46-yard TD.

That made it 28-0, and the rout was on.

A minute into the second quarter, Javines found all-state receiver Michael Moten for a 77-yard touchdown pass that made it 35-0. And just before halftime, backup running back Julian Olson rushed one in from 3-yards out to make it 42-0.

“We really we could have won that game last week against Lehi,” Javines said. “It was really important for us to come out and execute like we did tonight. The first half was just like you draw it up on the board and everyone just made plays.”

Brown came in at quarterback in the third quarter and had a 24-yard TD scramble and sophomore Jaden Marinko scored the final TD for Pine View, which improved to 2-1 on the season.

Pine View’s Brennan Bithell (34), Pine View vs. Manti, Football, St. George, UT, Sept. 1, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“This week in practice, we were kind of flat cause we were kind of bummed,” PV linebacker Austin Peterson said. “I was concerned because I thought a lot of the guys figured it was just Manti. But we came out and executed and put up points. We got back on our game.”

Pine View ended up wth 504 yards in the game (most of them coming before halftime), 286 more than the Templars. Brown had 156 rushing yards on just five attempts, plus that thrilling kickoff return. Mpungi rushed just four times for 70 yards and Javines had 36 rushing yards to go with his stellar 6 for 8 passing for 165 yards and two TDs. Neither Javines nor Mpungi played in the second half.

The Panthers averaged a whopping 12.6 yards per play in the blowout.

Manti’s top player was fullback Lance Fowles, who rushed for 84 yards on 15 carries. Most of those yards came against the Pine View reserves in the second half. In fact, the Templars had just 57 yards in the first half on 29 plays (2.0 yards per play).

Pine View is the only Region 9 team not starting region competition next Friday. The Panthers drew the first region bye and scheduled Cyprus to fill the void. The two teams met last year at Cyprus, with Pine View taking a 49-12 game. The Pirates, 2-1, visit St. George after blowing out Copper Hills 48-26 Friday night.

Box score: Pine View – Box Score Report – 9_2_2017

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andy Griffin has been in sports media since 1989 and has covered BYU, Utah State and the Utah Jazz as well as all sports in southern Utah. A journalism graduate of USU, Andy has carried on a dual career as both a sports writer and a sports broadcaster and has been heard around the country. He has also been published in USA Today, Sport magazine, The Sporting News, Fairways magazine, the Los Angeles Times and locally in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Spectrum. Andy was “The Voice of Region 9 sports,” for many years. He also hosted a daily sports talk show for three years called AG in the a.m. Andy has been married to his college sweetheart Shelly for 28 years and has five children ages 13 to 25.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.