St. George • While college football coaches can recruit athletes to play in their system, prep coaches don’t have the same luxury. They have to put together a team based on the players in their schools.
That makes what Pine View’s Ray Hosner is accomplishing again this season so impressive.
The Panthers used a dominating run game to take a convincing 63-14 victory over Tooele on a spectacular southern Utah Friday evening in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament.
So why is that surprising?
Hosner’s teams primarily have been known as passing outfits with former BYU signal caller James Lark and current Cougar Kody Wilstead putting up outrageous numbers for the Panthers in recent years.
That’s not the case this year. Pine View is primarily a run-first team behind the quickness of Jacob Mpungi.
But there were times Friday when Mpungi was more of an afterthought as quarterback Dallin Brown made most of the big plays.
Brown ran for four touchdowns, including a 52-yard beauty, and passed for a fifth touchdown as Pine View used a 35-point second quarter to bury the Buffaloes.
“We pound the ball a lot,” Brown said. “A lot of that is Mpungi. We like the physical aspects. That’s why I like to go to our run game. Our line is exceptional.”
The constant running did not seem anything like some of Hosner’s previous Pine View teams. But the New York native who never has shed his accent wanted to talk about all aspects of his team’s play.
“They executed in all three phases of the game,” Hosner said. “We played well on offense, defense and special teams. That’s what I was most proud of.”
Who could argue?
PLAYER OF THE GAME <br>Pine View’s Dallin Brown scores on runs of 2, 52, 2 and 38 yards and tosses a 31-yard touchdown pass to lead the Panthers.
Brown had four rushing touchdowns. Mpungi added two others and caught a touchdown pass. Julian Olson added two touchdowns for good measure.
And with the exception of Olson, most of Pine View’s starters gave way to second- and third-team players at the end of three periods when the Panthers led 56-0.
On defense, the Panthers’ Samson Doyle and Jakobe Turlington recorded interceptions, while Koa Katoa, Micah Russell and Christina Reis all had big games.
Finally, kicker Connor Broosky was perfect, booting all nine extra points without allowing a return on kickoffs.
What all of this proved is that it does seem to matter whether Pine View is a passing team or a running squad.