Dominate defensive display leads Richfield to 3A championship game

Richfield has been known the last two years for its defensive ability, but even Friday’s performance blew everyone’s expectations of the water.
Forcing five turnovers on a usually safe Grantsville squad was key in Richfield winning this 3A semifinal matchup 59-16.
Grantsville was able to muster only 169 yards on the night, 135 passing yards to go along with 34 rushing yards, most of which came on back-to-back scoring drives when Richfield put its backups into the game after going up 45-0.
“I have said 100 times that we have the best defensive coordinator in the state. He does an excellent job preparing and getting the boys ready every week. It is something that I have enjoyed the comfort of many times, having this great defense being able to put the offense in a great position to score,” said Richfield coach Eric Thorson.
Richfield defense was able to force four fumbles on the night and one interception, which is why the Wildcats only had 327 total yards of offense on the night but won big — they were routinely handed a smaller field thanks to their stellar defense.
Richfield was able to rack up 227 yards of offense on the ground for the night knowing that they would be able to drive into the heart of the Grantsville defense — which had only allowed 17.8 points per game entering Friday — slowly and aggressively.
The Wildcats were able to score at least 10 points in every quarter Friday. They scored 14 in the first quarter thanks to a 7-yard rushing touchdown and another rushing touchdown that went for six yards.
In the second quarter the Wildcats were able to add a quick 17-yard touchdown pass and a 22-yard chip shot field goal to end the first half up 24-0.
In the third quarter the Wildcats did not slow down, adding another rushing touchdown thanks to Slate Reitz and a 30-yard interception return to go along with a 13-yard touchdown run to make it 45-0 and sealing the game away with a running clock.
A big contributor to this scoring outburst from Richfield (which was the most they have scored in a game since scoring 63 against Carbon in 2013) was Gage Yardley, who had a fumble returned for a touchdown, an interception for a touchdown, a 7-yard rushing touchdown and a 17-yard receiving touchdown on the night, scoring in about every way you can in a game of football.
“That is just the kind of player that he is. He is an exceptional athlete, and he works extremely hard. He knows that he needs to be the best that he can be, not just the players around him. He knows that when he is the best player on the field. It results in a win for that day,” Thorson said.
Richfield quarterback Griffin Wayman was also able to contribute through the air. He only attempted 13 passes on the night but was able to connect on nine of those throws for exactly 100 yards and one touchdown for the Wildcats.
“It is so exciting to be back in the championship game with this group of boys. They all came in a little more starry-eyed. They did not have as much varsity experience at the beginning of the season, but they trusted the process of developing and doing their best,” Thorson said.
“I am so glad and happy that it paid off for them. This Grantsville team is a good team. They have a lot of great young players that will be able to contribute for them a lot going forward into the next couple of seasons. I really do wish them then best in the future.”
With the win, Richfield will advance to next Saturday’s 3A state championship game at Southern Utah University against the top-seeded Morgan Trojans, whom they have not matched up with on the field since a 3A quarterfinals loss in 2017.
This is the second ever matchup with the Trojans in a football championship game, but the first since all the way back in 1940, which Morgan won, 20-7.