 | | HURRICANE - One down, three more wins to go for Hurricane football. | The Tigers quickly took care of business in their 3A first round matchup on Friday night. Behind two
Taylor Parker first-quarter touchdown passes, Hurricane went uncontested en route to a 42-7
blowout of the Wasatch Wasps at Tiger Stadium.
"The offensive line gave me great time to make throws, and our receivers do a great job running routes
and getting open," said Parker, who threw for 133 yards on 7-of-12 passing and two touchdowns.
Weston Yardley (51 yards on three carries) got the Tigers rolling after his 33-yard touchdown run
with 8:11 left to play in the first quarter. Nearly two minutes later, Parker unleashed the offensive
attack through the air, connecting with running back Brian Scott (87 yards rushing on seven carries)
for a 41-yard touchdown pass, increasing the advantage to 14-0.
The veteran signal caller wasn't done by any means. On the Tigers (10-0 overall) ensuing possession,
Parker found Colton Marshall (62 yards on three receptions) for another long touchdown, this one 49 yards.
"It doesn't matter what the score is," Parker said. "If the first team is on the field, then we have to give
it everything we've got. If we don't, then we shouldn't be out there."
Hurricane totaled 431 yards of offense to Wasatch's 254. The game-changer, though, was the Tigers'
ability to hold the Wasps (5-6) in the trenches, forcing them to negative seven rushing yards.
Jared Edwards had the game-high eight tackles with Zach Prince and Yardley contributing five each. Lineman
Kevin Mortensen, who leads the team with 3.5 sacks this season, delivered two tackles in limited action as
the starters were mostly pulled after the first half. As a defensive unit, Hurricane limited Wasatch to just a
2-of-13 conversion rate on third down.
"Our coaches try to make it simple for us," Mortensen said. "It's assignment football and you have to just
worry about you and your job. Not anyone else's."
Wasatch quarterback James Delacenserie finished with 174 yards on 14-of-27 passing, one touchdown and one
interception. Talem Franco pulled in five receptions for 118 yards in the loss.
If the Wasps had any hopes of making a comeback in the second quarter, Adam Thompson (36 yards on four
carries) quickly crushed their dreams.
The junior running back brought the hammer down with back-to-back first half touchdowns.
Thompson broke free for a 22-yard scamper with 56 seconds left in the first. At the 6:02 mark in the second,
he reached pay dirt from nine yards out, giving the Tigers a very comfortable, 35-0 lead.
"It's been a good season for me, but I wouldn't be anywhere without my team pushing me every day for everything."
The Tigers' Joseph Takau tallied 53 rushing yards and one touchdown to lead their second half effort.
Hurricane, the No. 1 seed from Region 9, will continue its 3A title run next Friday vs. Grantsville (No. 2
seed from Region 11) at Tiger Stadium, 5 p.m.
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