Lone Peak Knights prove they’re no fluke, outdueling Corner Canyon for 6A football crown

The first win ended one streak.

The second ended the other.

And if there were any doubters left, the Lone Peak Knights took any talk of a fluke and drowned it out with the sounds of celebration.

After ending Corner Canyon’s state-record 48-game winning streak earlier this season, Lone Peak on Friday outlasted the Chargers in a thrilling 49-42 victory in the 6A state title game, ending Corner Canyon’s run of state championships dating back to 2018.

“You never doubt us,” Lone Peak quarterback Easton Comer said, basking in the glow of the Rice-Eccles Stadium lights. “With the players we got, you never doubt us. Some teams have to learn. They don’t respect us. Coming in they were still saying we were the underdogs. Don’t ever doubt us.”

Comer was nearly perfect on the day, throwing for 276 yards and four touchdowns on 11-of-18 passing, as he dueled with Corner Canyon and USC commit Devin Brown.

It took just seconds to know what kind of game this would be.

On the second play from scrimmage, Brown found wide receiver Cody Hagen for a 61-yard touchdown pass down the sideline for the first score of the game. Less than a minute of game time later, Comer found junior Cole Christensen, who broke arm tackle after arm tackle for a 62-yard touchdown.

“It was a fantastic game,” Lone Peak coach Bart Brockbank said. “Just punch for punch. Punch, punch, punch. And then more punches.”

By the end, the teams’ combined 91 points were the most ever in a regulation championship game in Utah. The teams combined for 1,074 yards, the second-most in state history.

Brown threw for 380 yards and four touchdowns of his own. His 476 total yards of offense were the third-most ever in a Utah state championship game.

The trophy, however, belongs to the Knights.

“My team deserves this,” said running back Luke Durfey, who had two touchdowns on the day. “All the hard work, blood, sweat and tears we put in, it pays off.”

Lone Peak had cruised to a 41-16 win over Corner Canyon in early October, handing the Chargers their first defeat since 2017. Even so, the Knights were viewed as underdogs once again coming into Friday’s state championship game.

It was a label Lone Peak roundly rejected.

“They’re a great team. I feel like we’ve got a great team this year,” Brockbank said. “This group of kids just does whatever it takes to win.”

After Crew McChesney scored on a 41-yard strike from Comer, Lone Peak led 49-42 with 2:26 to play in the fourth quarter.

“We knew we could beat them,” the junior McChesney said. “Everyone was saying it was a fluke. We knew we could beat them again.”

With three timeouts to use, Brown and the Chargers’ high-octane offense had plenty of time to answer, as they had all game.

But in an offensive shootout, one defensive play decided things.

Brown dropped back looking for senior wide receiver Jett Meine down the right sideline. Corner Canyon defensive back Dallin Moore ran stride for stride, managing to get a hand on the pass.

“They ran verts. We knew they were going deep,” Moore said. “I saw the ball go up in the air and I knew I had to make a play. I barely got my fingertips on it.”

It was enough to pop the ball up and into the waiting hands of his teammate, senior Takeao Hansen.

“It was just an easy catch,” he said.

In a shootout, Hansen said he knew the game would come down to a defensive stand.

“One-hundred percent,” he said. “Our coaches kept saying if we got two stops and one turnover … We got our two stops and that was our turnover to win the game.”

After a difficult COVID-19 season and a championship defeat to Corner Canyon last year, the victory meant even more to Hansen and his teammates.

“Missing last year was heartbreaking,” he said. “It means the world. This is the last high school game for a lot of us. It’s amazing.”