Corner Canyon meets 12-0 Mountain Ridge in the 6A semifinal at Rice-Eccles

DRAPER — Corner Canyon, the No. 3 seed in 6A, plays No. 2 Mountain Ridge in a state semifinal on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 2:30 p.m. at the University of Utah, according to the Deseret News' semifinal preview and the UHSAA's bracket listing 12.

The 6A semifinals are both at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the association's football page states, with Herriman meeting Skyridge at 11 a.m. in the first game of the day 13. The winners meet for the 6A championship 1.

Mountain Ridge is Herriman's school — its address is 14100 S. Sentinel Ridge Blvd. in Herriman, according to the Jordan School District 4 — and it comes in 12-0 1.

**The ratings and the pick**

Parry's Power Guide, published Nov. 9, rates Corner Canyon 140.5 and Mountain Ridge 128.2, a 12.3-point gap in the Chargers' favor 5. The Deseret News' high school sports editor, James Edward, picks Mountain Ridge anyway; his season record entering the week was 520-114, 82.0% 5.

The two programs have met three times, all since 2023, and Corner Canyon has won all three 1. The last was 59-20 at Rice-Eccles in last year's semifinal, when the Chargers threw for 360 yards, intercepted Mountain Ridge quarterback Jaxon Hunt three times and returned one of them 68 yards for a touchdown 1.

**How they got here**

Corner Canyon (10-2) beat Syracuse 42-6 in the quarterfinals. Jaxon Pehrson threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Carter Kjar just over nine minutes into the game, the Chargers led 28-0 at halftime, Jackson Carruth ran for two touchdowns and Pehrson added a 4-yard scoring run 1.

Mountain Ridge (12-0) beat Lone Peak 42-3. Hunt threw three touchdown passes, including an 8-yard score to Tytan DeJong before halftime, and the Knights did not score until the fourth quarter 1.

**The numbers**

Corner Canyon's offense is built on big plays. Pehrson has 35 total touchdowns, 28 passing and seven rushing, and averages 17.8 yards per completion. Beckham Coon averages 26.1 yards a catch and Kelen Gold 22.9, and each has seven touchdown receptions. Carruth has run for 1,164 yards and 10 touchdowns, Diesel Dart has 11 total touchdowns, and Carson Burnett has made six field goals 1.

Wyatt Warner has 15 sacks, the most of any player in the 6A semifinals, and Jack West has six. Tate Patterson leads the team with 97 tackles, Will Tenney has three defensive touchdowns, and the Chargers have scored seven defensive touchdowns as a team 1.

Mountain Ridge allows 10.3 points a game, the fewest in 6A. It has given up more than 13 points twice all season, and won both of those games by at least 13 1. Scooby Tulau leads the team with 63 tackles, Cole Uluave and Jayce Helm have four interceptions and a defensive touchdown each, Boston Kojima has six sacks and Kyler Christiansen four 1. Hunt has completed 69.2% of his passes and has thrown seven interceptions in 12 games, a year after throwing three in this round 1.

**The coaching**

Casey Sutera took over at Corner Canyon this season after Eric Kjar left for Weber State, and the Chargers are two wins from a fourth straight championship, which no team in the program's history has done 1. Nick Robins is 22-3 in two seasons at Mountain Ridge, which was 31-33 in its first six years before he arrived 1.

**What separates them**

The common opponents point at Mountain Ridge: Skyridge, which beat Corner Canyon 37-27, lost to the Sentinels 41-26 1.

The counterargument is pressure. Warner and the Corner Canyon front took over last year's meeting, and Pehrson has thrown 12 interceptions this season while Mountain Ridge's defense has scored twice off turnovers 1.