High school football: Corner Canyon makes second-half plays and returns to familiar spot among 6A finalists

If you take away Corner Canyon’s 28-21 loss to Lone Peak back in the third week of the regular season, the Chargers would likely be a runaway candidate to win the Utah 6A state football championship this season.
Unfortunately, that defeat did occur and the Chargers have been battling injuries to key players since. Coach Eric Kjar said it makes his squad feel more like an underdog instead of the defending champion, but the top-seeded Chargers took another step toward taking home another trophy Friday evening as Bronson Evans threw for three touchdowns and Weston Briggs and Zion Finau each ran for two more in a 59-34 win over No. 9 Weber.
With the win, Corner Canyon improved its record to 11-1 and advanced to play at Rice-Eccles Stadium for the eighth straight year. The University of Utah’s facility is the traditional home for the semifinals and championship game. The Chargers will play Lehi, which defeated American Fork 28-7 later Friday.
“It has been a long season and we knew this would be a battle,” said Kjar. “We’ve had to work through so many injuries. We’re not the same team we were earlier but nobody is going to shed any tears for us.”
Corner Canyon, of course, lost starting quarterback Helaman Casuga, who was having an MVP-type season when he was hurt a month ago. Evans took over and has used his talented offensive line and plethora of running backs and receivers to keep the Chargers on track for another special season.
Corner Canyon has averaged nearly 50 points per game but, for a while, Weber stayed in contention Friday. The Warriors (7-5), who downed perennial power Bingham last week, rallied from a 21-0 deficit behind quarterback Crew Cacciacarre and running back Dyson Parker and kept the game interesting until late in the third quarter..
Weber trailed 24-14 at halftime but Cacciacarre connected with on a 73-yard touchdown pass and then found Brock Dean open behind the secondary and lofted a potential 68-yard scoring pass on a fourth-down pass a few minutes later.
Dean, however, dropped the pass and fell to the turf in frustration. The Warriors’ distraught offense was then replaced by a seemingly frustrated defense and that’s all Corner Canyon needed.
Briggs, who ran for 141 yards and averaged over 10 yards per carry, followed linemen such as Kaydon Williams, Will Chandler, Nai Filivao, Esun Tafa and Finau on two straight carries and scored on a 24-yard run.
That series of plays seemed to demoralize Weber and, after a three-and out and a short punt, Evans tossed a 27-yard touchdown pass to Blake Ames and Corner Canyon took over like it has so many times in its football history.
“We wanted to run on (the Warriors),” said Briggs, who was out for five games due to injury but regained his confidence with 159 rushing yards in last week’s 56-0 win over Westlake.
“This line is the best I’ve ever run behind. I just follow them and try to find the right hole to run through. There’s always a place. I just have to find it.”
Briggs has had six 100-yard rushing games in the eight he has played. By contrast, Weber’s offensive attack netted just over 20 yards as the Warriors only stayed in the game thanks Cacciacarne’s passing accuracy and 275 yards.