ST. GEORGE, Utah—It was a hard fought game for both UVU and the Dixie State Red Storm. However, in the end it was DSU that came away with the win, taking home the Rocky Mountain Cup with a final score of 26-24.
This game came off the heels of an accident that struck DSU hard, team member Jonah Tuttle was involved in a long boarding accident on April 17 that left him in a coma after suffering a traumatic head injury.
DSU players wore Captain America styled socks to represent Tuttle who is known as “the Captain.”
Dixie State drew first blood scoring a try six minutes in to the match. From there it took a total of 21 minutes for the Wolverines to score their first try.
Things started to look bad for UVU from there as DSU scored two more times before the half, making a 21-7 game.
After the half UVU scored an extra point off a penalty kick by Kage Green. This brought the score to 21-10, with DSU in the lead.
At the 49-minute mark, Telu Cruser came in strong to score another try. After the extra point kicked by Green, the lead was cut to 21-17.
Team captain Zach Burr said that it was a fun game to play, he gave DSU a lot of credit for the type of game they played.
DSU came back and scored a try of their own at the 60-minute mark. The Wolverines then scored a try of their own after the kickoff by Burr.
The score was 26-24 with only minutes to go in the game. UVU had the opportunity to take the lead and seal the game with two penalty kicks, but they missed both.
“We made a bunch of mistakes,” Burr said. “We played poorly, it also didn’t help that the refs didn’t award three tries.” He added that he was a little bitter about that while laughing.
Head coach Adam Griffee felt that they came out and dominated the second half of the game with a chance to win the game with the penalty kicks, but fell short of that.
“Dixie came out wanting the win more, and rallying around their teammate who is in a coma.” Griffee said. “That gave them a lot of emotion and helped them start well and get their crowd in the game.”
UVU was unable to make a comeback in the end, falling only two points short of a win of an emotional game for DSU. Griffee said that even though this was the end to their season, they are looking towards next season with the start of recruiting and the advancement to Division IA.
The future looks bright for the Wolverines, who will be able to compete against Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Wyoming next season.
