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Lone Peak's Tate Barney carries the ball against Corner Canyon in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

Marcia Harris, Special to the Herald

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Lone Peak's Tate Barney carries the ball against Corner Canyon in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

Marcia Harris, Special to the Herald

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Lone Peak's Thomas Herget (29) gathers in a pass against Corner Canyon in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

Marcia Harris, Special to the Herald

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Lone Peak's William Gifford (54) tries to tackle Corner Canyon's Lennon Waver in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

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Lone Peak's Kennan Pula (3) and Tate King close in on Corner Canyon quarterback Helaman Casuga in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

Marcia Harris, Special to the Daily Herald

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Lone Peak's Kennan Pula (3) tackles Corner Canyon quarterback Helaman Casuga in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

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Lone Peak's Tate Barney stretches forward for more yards against Corner Canyon in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

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Corner Canyon's Helaman Casuga throws a pass against Lone Peak in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

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Lone Peak quarterback Kepa Niumeitolu throws a pass against Corner Canyon in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

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Corner Canyon's Weston Briggs carries the ball against Lone Peak in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

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Lone Peak's Jaren Pula (5) tries to break a tackle against Corner Canyon in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

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Lone Peak quarterback Kepa Niumeitolu throws a pass against Corner Canyon in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

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Lone Peak quarterback Kepa Niumeitolu (12) celebrates a touchdown with teammates Sean Tahi (1) and Cameron Wray against Corner Canyon in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

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Corner Canyon's Weston Briggs scores a touchdown against Lone Peak in the 6A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

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Lone Peak's Cooper Stosich hugs a coach after the Knights lost to Corner Canyon 35-20 in the 6A football state championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.

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❮ ❯

Despite a great effort set forth from everyone involved, Lone Peak’s remarkably resilient season came to a close with a disappointing 35-20 loss to Corner Canyon in the 6A state championship game on Thursday.

The Knights set the tone early, and led 17-14 at the half, but ultimately left too many opportunities go by as Corner Canyon rolled and largely capitalized on the opportunities missed by Lone Peak.

“We didn’t finish, and they did. That’s basically what happened out there,” said Lone Peak Coach Bart Brockbank. “Ultimately we have to score when we’re inside the five (yardline), and we didn’t. They did, and again, that was the difference, along with too many missed tackles. We also had too many dumb penalties, some of them were self-inflicted, others I thought were (questionable calls), but officiating isn’t what loses games. We have to score and make the most of the opportunities we had, and we unfortunately didn’t.”

As mentioned, the Knights proved to be the better team throughout most of the first half of play. Using dominant line play upfront, Lone Peak galloped for 137 rushing yards, led by Tate Barney’s 67 yards on just eight carries, which included a touchdown run from two yards out to give Lone Peak a 10-7 lead midway through the second quarter.

Corner Canyon responded with a 5-yard scoring run from quarterback Helaman Casuga before Lone Peak quarterback Kepa Niumeitolu finished off the half with a 1-yard plunge across the goaline with just 23 seconds left before the break to give the Knights a 17-14 lead into the locker room.

“I liked how we came out, but Corner Canyon adjusted well, made plays, and again, we didn’t match them on too many occasions,” Brockbank said. “Offensively we did what we wanted we wanted to get done, for the most part, but inside the five (yardline) we just couldn’t make the plays we needed, for whatever reason.”

The second half told a different story, as mentioned by Brockbank, as Corner Canyon made adjustments to counteract Lone Peak’s dominant line play. Even so, Lone Peak had prime opportunity to lead off the second half with a touchdown, but was instead made to settle for a field goal to push its lead to 20-14.

Corner Canyon immediately responded with a clock-chewing touchdown drive topped off by running back Weston Briggs scoring from two yards out to take back the lead at 21-20. Briggs then added touchdown runs of 12 and five yards to put a definitive stamp on the game while gashing the Lone Peak defense. Overall the Corner Canyon lead back finished the game with 170 yards on 21 carries after ending the first half with just 15 yards on six carries.

“They made adjustments, and that’s a really good coaching staff over there,” Brockbank said. “We made adjustments, too, but the key was they made plays when they had to, and we didn’t. They’re a great team, and even though we’re a great team, you’re not going to win games against a team like Corner Canyon when you don’t execute plays you need to inside the redzone.”

Lone Peak’s other stall within the 5 yard line came late, with Corner Canyon leading just 28-20 midway through the fourth quarter. But again, the Knights failed to execute effectively, coming up just short of their opportunity to score a touchdown and then tie the game with a 2-point conversion.

Another key was Corner Canyon effectively limiting Lone Peak star receiver Jaron Pula to just two receptions for 13 yards, using effective bracket coverages throughout. Throughout the season Pula has been able to blow the top off of opposing defenses, but Thursday’s game told a different story.

All in all it was a brutal end to an otherwise remarkable season for the Knights, who rallied big to make it back to the 6A championship despite losing their final three games of the regular season.

“They should be proud. Very few teams get the opportunity to win their last game, and we came close, and although it’s difficult to take any satisfaction with that now, the boys should be very proud of what they did this season,” Brockbank said. “They could have easily mailed it in when we had that big dip in the season. The resiliency was great, and to just get back here and have the chance that we did, after so many things went against us is something I hope all of them can look back and be proud of.”