ST. GEORGE — Sometimes staying the course is the best course of action, despite adverse circumstances.
Case in point would be the second-year Crimson Cliffs football program, which recently gutted out a 10-7 win over Hurricane to improve to 3-2 on the season, two wins more than it had all of last season.
Not much of anything was going right for the Mustangs’ offense through three quarters played in their game on Friday. But trailing 7-0 entering the fourth quarter, Crimson Cliffs started getting through on the offensive end.
First it was Creed Leonard running it in from 1 yard out to tie things at 7-7 just a few minutes into the final quarter, leading up to kicker Ryan Woolley booting through a 30-yard field goal with just 11 seconds left to secure the win.
“We didn’t change anything. We just kept with it, believing we could finally get through,” Crimson Cliffs coach Jaron Tate said of the strong finish on Friday. “We trusted the system and kids started doing things at the right time to get those final two scores for the win. And by doing just that we were able to overcome the adversity thrown at us.”
It’s a good approach to undertake and follows the path Tate has taken since being hired as a first-year head coach at Crimson Cliffs last season.
Like a lot of first-year programs, the Mustangs took it on the chin during their first season, winning just one game and losing nine, with most of those losses coming by relatively large margins. But the players kept with the program, worked hard in the offseason and have reached three wins so far this season.
“A lot of it is just playing young guys and those same guys just becoming more experienced,” Tate said. “The sophomores we relied on heavily last year are now juniors with a lot of game experience, with some of the juniors now seniors, and so on. So you expect the improvement and we’ve definitely seen it.”
Key players for the Mustangs this season have proven to be Leonard on the offensive side and Jason Ponausuia on defense.
“Creed Leonard is really a hard-nosed player and our offense has started following his lead,” Tate said. “But really, it’s our defense that has led the way for us this year, with Jason being our leading tackler and really our leader on that side of the ball.”
Indeed the Mustangs have yielded just 14 points over their last two games, with Tate lending a lot of credit to his defensive coordinator, Wayne Alofipo.
“He’s had them ready for every game and like I said, they’ve really led the way,” Tate said. “Even when we gave up a lot of points in our two losses, a lot of it was because of turnovers and what not, so yeah, our defense has been very good for us this year and we’ll rely on them heavily for the rest of the year.”
The defense will have to be at its best for the four games remaining on the the schedule, with established programs such as Dixie and Pine View awaiting the second-year program.
“We’re going to have to play some really tough teams for our final four games, but you love that opportunity,” Tate said. “We have great teams down here in St. George and you love having the opportunity to compete against the very best.”
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High school football: Crimson Cliffs staying the course in program’s second year - Deseret News
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