Orem • Corner Canyon probably entered Friday’s road contest expecting Tigers ace wide receiver Puka Nacua to get his regular quota of catches.
And Nacua did, finishing with nine grabs for 142 yards.
But it was a couple of first-half grabs by Chargers defenders that really were the difference-makers in a 27-14 victory for Corner Canyon.
“Huge. Those were really big,” Chargers coach Eric Kjar said about interceptions by Mikey Petty and Conner Ebeling that not only stymied Orem drives but led to Corner Canyon points.
Ebeling’s pick provided instant gratification in the way of a score.
PLAYER OF THE GAME <br>Zach Wilson’s legs were the most consistent offensive weapon as the Corner Canyon quarterback ran for 144 yards and kept alive several Chargers drives. The Boise State commit also threw for 169 yards on 10-for-15 passing.
Orem had the ball at the Chargers’ 9-yard line trailing 14-7 with 1 minute, 56 seconds left in the second quarter. But a pass by Tigers quarterback Cooper Legas to the right flat was read correctly by Ebeling, who grabbed the interception and raced 95 yards for a touchdown.
“That was crazy. I just saw him roll across to the other sideline, and I just jumped it,” said Ebeling, who is also the Chargers’ place-kicker. “It wore me out a little bit. Defense, that’s what I’ve always played — safety. I like doing both.”
It was the unlikely sight of a defensive end grabbing an interception that halted the first drive for Orem (1-2) earlier in the game.
But Petty stepped in front of a Legas throw and ran back the pick to the Orem 38. Zach Wilson found Noah Kjar for a 14-yard touchdown pass and the Chargers were up 7-0 four plays later.
“I think offensively we weren’t executing like we normally do,” said Orem coach Jeremy Hill, whose team blitzed Bakersfield (Calif.) 63-28 in Week 3. “I think our kids got a little bit complacent. Against a very good team, I think we just kind of expected things to happen and forgot we had to work for it.”
Corner Canyon got 169 yards passing from Wilson, a Boise State commit. But Wilson’s running prowess proved more important as the game wore on. He finished with 144 yards rushing.
The Chargers’ best drive of the game, as it turned out, was an 80-yard march at the end of the first quarter that culminated early in the second with a 1-yard TD run by Tai Gonzales.
“They have a big physical front on both sides. We knew they were going to try to hammer some pressure with their linebackers,” Kjar said about Orem. “We wanted to get him [Wilson] a little more involved in the run game than we had.
“And he just said, ‘Hey, I want to run it more.’
Wilson gained 92 yards on the ground in the second half.
“We were trying to get things going. The pressure was hurting us a little bit,” Wilson said. “I knew once we got through the front line, it would be big. Dropping back and getting some pressure, I knew I could always take off.”
The Chargers improved to 4-0, while the Tigers fell to 2-2.