Miners survive near collapse

Highland RB Christopher Lloyd tries to slice through the Mountain Crest line on this first half run when the score was still close at 7-7. Defending for Mountain Crest is (33) Cole Sorensen. Mountain Crest pulled away, and crushed Highland High 48-7 in the Class 4A quarterfinal football game at Highland. (Scott Sommerdorf / Salt Lake Tribune)

It wasn't the way the Park City Miners scripted it, but a win is a win and so they advance to the semifinals of the 4A playoffs. Delta, which Park City defeated 41-17 earlier this season, put pressure on the Miners late in their quarterfinal game last week, taking the game to the brink. Park City escaped 21-14, but it took two goal-line stands -- one with less than three minutes left to play -- and a fourth-down conversion from its own 10-yard line with 51 seconds remaining.

"We played our butts off," running back Dylan Chynoweth said. "We made mistakes all over the field but in the end we took care of it."

Chynoweth certainly did his part, rushing 21 times for 273 yards and three scores. In fact, Chynoweth was running the ball so well that coach Brandon Matich decided that he was just going to get the ball in his hands. Matich said after the game that he slimmed down the playbook to essentially one play, going either right or left, for most of the game. The option game was all but deserted.

"You have to just go with what's working," Matich said. "Sometimes you out-coach yourself."

The all-too-dramatic victory advanced the Miners to the semi-finals for the second straight year, this time to face defending state-champion Hurricane. If Park City plans to win, it will have to clean up its game. What it got away with against Delta may not fly against Hurricane. The Miners fumbled five times, losing three of them.

"We've taken care

Highland basketball

The roster is going to look a lot different for the Highland Rams basketball team this season. Eight seniors graduated, including names such as Latu Heimuli, Nick Orchard, Spencer Bowen and Taylor Brighthead are no longer there. In fact, the only returning contributor from the team that finished second in Region 6 a year ago is Nate Fakahafua. Other than that, coach Keith West started breaking in a new group in official practice on Monday.

Maybe the good news for Highland is that Region 6 experienced a similar face-lift in the off-season. Exit defending state-champion West High and playoff teams Murray and Cottonwood, all moving to 5A. But enter last year's Region 5 champion Bountiful and playoff team Woods Cross. And defending champion Olympus is still in Region 6. Highland has a lot to figure out before the season starts but West is confident he has the right pieces.

"We're young but we're going to be pretty good," West said.

He'll be looking to Fakahafua. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound junior spent the fall exhibiting his athletic ability with the football team. Although Fakafahua didn't start last season, his impact on the team was noticed by his coach.

"He was really important to what we did," West said. "He is a great talent."

West also expects guard Sam Orchard to elevate his game for the Rams, claiming that Orchard will be one of the best guards in the state by season's end. He loves Orchard's ability to get others involved and play with tenacity. Outside of Fakahafua and Orchard, there a lot of players that need to step up to keep Highland competitive. West expects his team to improve in its Princeton offense as the season progresses, but maybe more importantly, wants it to get better at defense and rebounding.

Although some strong teams moved on, a couple moved in. West expects East to be improved and doesn't know what to expect out of divided Tooele and newborn Stansbury. Olympus should be strong again and Bountiful and Woods Cross surely plan to make an impact.

"It's going to be different," West said. "But Woods Cross and Bountiful have pretty good tradition."