High school football: Kanab punches ticket to 1A championship with win over North Summit

Kanab punched its ticket to the 1A state championship game, getting past North Summit in the semifinals Saturday, 27-6.
“This feels awesome. We’re pumped and that’s the result that we’ve been working for and that’s the result we were expecting. We went out and executed. I love it,” said Kanab head coach JR Quarnberg.
Led by Hayden Gubler and Preston Brown, Kanab’s offense was clicking all day, especially on the ground. Gubler rushed for 142 yards and a touchdown, while Brown rushed for 86 yards and found the end zone twice.
It was a defensive battle to start the game, with neither team able to score in the first quarter. Kanab was finally able to get its offense rolling thanks to Brown, who scored both of his touchdowns in the second quarter, one for 17 yards to start the quarter and a short 1 yard run a little later to double the lead.
Ray Capson then converted on a 27-yard field goal with seconds left in the first half to give Kanab a commanding 17-0 lead heading into the break.
Kanab dominated the offensive stats, rushing for a total of 296 yards to North Summit’s 59. Kanab also was able to move the ball down the field with ease, finishing with 21 first downs while its defense held the North Summit offense to six first downs.
Kanab came into the game feeling like it had a chip on its shoulder, wanting to prove all of its doubters wrong, and it was mission accomplished for the 3 seed.
“We took it personal. We took this game personally. Its been said that North Summit might be the most physical team in our classification and we took issue with that,” Quarnberg said.
“It’s also been said that everyone wants to see the rematch of the Beaver and North Summit game but we got the rematch that we wanted. We came ready to play and I loved the way we executed it and it was a team win.”
In the title game, Kanab will face top-seeded Beaver. Quarnberg knows that if his team wants to win the title and get revenge on Beaver, who beat it earlier in the season, the group will need to be well-prepared because he knows Beaver will give his team all it can handle.
“I know our guys felt some pressure today, but they came out and played well and I hope we will be able to do that again,” Quarnberg said. “We have played in these kinds of games before and certainly the Beaver boys have played in these kinds of games, so they’ll be ready to go and we have to be prepared.”