Skyline blows past Murray

The nice thing about this week is that we have prep football on Thursday and Friday nights. The Deseret News asked me to cover the Jordan at Brighton game Friday night, but I wanted to go out early.

So, on Thursday night, I went out and watched the Skyline at Murray game. I'm very familiar with Skyline, having helped the school's booster club publish its preseason program. I wanted to see Murray, though. The Spartans have had a breakout season, and I wanted to be part of it.

Skyline won the game, 59-35. The Eagles' offense was impressive. QB Chase Dunford had a great game and RB Algernon Brown was unstoppable. Skyline reached the playoffs for the 24th consecutive season, and that's impressive. The Eagles will play Syracuse next week, and they have a chance to pull off the upset.

This was my first time attending a game at Murray since I used to work for the Salt Lake Tribune in the early 1990s. I was disappointed in the crowd. The Murray crowd was rather small, and Skyline also didn't travel well.

Later, I found out I might have been mistaken. Football games, as most people know, is a social occasion. A lot of the Murray fans weren't sitting in the stands. They were congregating at the south end of the stadium. Unlike me, they weren't interested in the game. So, I learned something.

So, what made this game stand out?

I don't know. I suppose, at the start of the season, when Skyline was looking at its schedule, this was written as an automatic victory. Skyline did blow Murray out in the first half. But the second half, when Skyline was playing its reserves, the Spartans did come back.

Coach Dan Aragon should be proud because his team did not give up. The Spartans put up 35 points on Skyline. I look forward to Murray competing even more in the future. It appears he's on the right track.

Skyline, of course, has been on track for some time. After the game, I interviewed coach Roger Dupaix. He and I know each other. I've interviewed him a number of times. He's such a class act. I hope that when he finally retires, they rename their stadium after him.

Here are a few other tidbits:

* - Dunford throws a nice ball. He only passed the ball (officially) three times, and completed two for 70 yards. But his throws were on target. Ironically, he had one pass that resembled a "wounded duck" and Murray had a chance to intercept it. They missed it, but the play was wiped out by a penalty anyway.

* - Brown is a monster. He can outrun opponents, and run right through them. Syracuse will have its hands full. In the playoffs, Brown will get the ball more, I'm sure. Skyline even has him returning punts. Not a bad idea.

* - No Brian Orr tonight. Turns out Skyline's star receiver was injured last week in an off-the-field incident. He's out for the season, and may not be able to play basketball until the region season. Skyline missed him. He has a chance to make all-state.

* - Murray QB Dee Hamala isn't what I expected. He's a lot smaller, but he makes good decisions. Besides playing QB, Murray has him returning kicks and he had a couple of nice returns tonight. I'll be curious to see if he plays college ball.

Of course, I kept statistics during the game. Here they are:

Skyline 14 28 7 10 - 59
Murray 7 0 14 14 - 35

S – Algernon Brown 2 run (Izak Yapius kick)
S – Matt hew Newman 10 run (Andrus Jones kick)
M – Kamron Sanders 26 pass from Dee Hamala (Zack Battenfield kick)
S – Brown 46 run (Yapius kick)
S – Brown 37 pass from Chase Dunford (Jones kick)
S – Andy Rounds 23 run (Yapius kick)
S – Dunford 1 run (Jones kick)
M – Bronson Gray 9 pass from Hamala (Battenfield kick)
S – Taylor Lithgow 65 run (Yapius kick)
M – Hamala 24 run (Battenfield kick)
S – FG Jones 18
M – Kamron Sanders 25 pass from Drew Rindlisbacher (Battenfield kick)
S – Mike Pell 58 run (Yapius kick)
S – Sanders 58 pass from Rindlisbacher (Battenfield kick)

Team Statistics

First downs – Skyline 17, Murray 17
Rushes-yards – Skyline 37-388, Murray 33-73.
Passing yards – Skyline 70, Murray 316
Passes – Skyline 2-3-0, Murray 20-41-0
Fumbles lost – Skyline 1-0, Murray 3-2
Penalties – Skyline 6-58, Murray 5-54
Punts – Skyline 1-40.0, Murray 3-29.3

Individual statistics

Rushing – Skyline – Dunford 9-87, Pell 5-78, Brown 4-65, Rounds 5-45, Newman 7-36, Lithgow 1-65, Ubani 1-9, Johansen 5-3. Murray – Hamala 18-67, Prestwich 5-18, Jensen 3-8, Fisihetau 3-5, Rindlisbacher 2-(-10), Sanders 1-(-1).

Passing – Skyline – Dunford 2-3-0-70. Murray – Hamala 15-31-0-189, Rindlisbacher 5-5-0- 127.

Receiving – Skyline – Brown 1-44, Hultquist 1-33. Murray – Sanders 7-146, Flitton 5-79, Miller 4-35, Moore 2-30, Gray 2-25.