Amini Amone (2) from the East Leopards stiff arms Carson Baynes from the Park Metropolis Miners in Salt Lake Metropolis on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. The Leopards received 21-14. Ben B. Braun, Deseret Information
SALT LAKE CITY – It has been 10 years for the reason that East Leopards have performed their long-standing rival, the West Panthers.
Since that rivalry is now not energetic, the Leopards took a stand Friday night time to create a brand new one. The Leopards invited Park Metropolis to come back down the hill, and the 2 colleges mixed for a second thrilling match in as a few years.
This time, Amini Amone rushed for 208 yards, Omar Shah scored the game-winning landing and Chase Barker stepped in entrance of a possible game-tying rating as East held on to beat the Miners 21-14 in a Area 5 matchup.
It was nearly as good as final yr’s contest, when Leopards coach Brandon Matich took his group up into the Wasatch Mountains however misplaced a one-point sport on a blocked additional level within the remaining minute.
“That’s nearly as good of a sport as we will make it,” stated Matich, whose group dropped its first two video games however have since received two straight and have recovered rapidly sufficient to be tied for first place within the area standings.
“We left factors off the scoreboard, however we stored our composure and performed like we needed to.”
The Leopards’ line play stored the Miners off stability. Park Metropolis got here into the sport with a 3-0 document and had not likely been examined, profitable by a median of over 20 factors per sport.
East’s offensive line, although, is historically one of the crucial bodily within the state, and Amone has risen to grow to be one of many main rushers at school — and state — historical past.
East’s protection additionally proved to be as powerful because the Miners, because the Leopards pressured Park Metropolis quarterback Maximilian Grizzell on just about each go play to restrict his effectiveness.
Grizzell nonetheless threw for 205 yards, however most of these got here on landing completions of 89 and 68 yards to William McCurdy that ignited the Miners and set the stage for an thrilling fourth quarter.
East led a lot of the sport, and the competition was tied solely briefly. The Leopards took a 7-0 benefit lower than three minutes into the competition, however premature penalties stopped two drives and one other nullified a landing to stop their dominance from getting out of hand.
The Leopards additionally drew a pair of private fouls when errors and an official’s name took them out of field-goal vary simply earlier than intermission.
“We had been doing what we needed with the ball, and barely had a lead,” Matich stated.
As soon as Park Metropolis discovered some momentum, the Miners made East pay. After gaining simply 21 whole yards within the first half, Grizzell discovered McCurdy on a fast slant and McCurdy ran by means of a number of defenders for the 89-yard landing.
Final, Grizzell noticed McCurdy once more behind the protection for an extended rating. In-between, nevertheless, East stayed with its standard dashing assault that Matich created when he coached for the Miners from 2005-10 after which put in on this aspect of the mountains.
East averaged nearly six yards per carry and let its dimension and depth benefit present with a pair of fourth-quarter drives.
A future by Amone put the ball on Park Metropolis’s 3-yard line. It took three performs, however Shah lastly broke by means of the road to provide East its remaining lead with 3:06 to play and the Miners, who wanted a miracle to win final yr’s sport, didn’t have one other out there this time.