High school football: History made in Draper as Corner Canyon defeats top-5 nationally ranked IMG Academy

A year ago, the only thing that kept Corner Canyon from a perfect 14-0 record was a loss to nationally top-ranked Bishop Gorman out of Nevada.

It was a competitive game until the Gaels pulled away in the fourth quarter. Still, Corner Canyon head coach Eric Kjar wanted that elusive national win.

Kjar got exactly what he was hoping for on Thursday as Corner Canyon got what was arguably the biggest win in Utah high school football history with a 35-34 win over the third-ranked team in the country, Florida’s IMG Academy.

“We got rolled by (Bishop Gorman) two years ago and played a pretty tight game last year,” said Kjar. “We just kept telling our kids ‘(Believe in yourselves)’

“I think there’s a lot of that that kind of comes with football, just self-confidence, and some kids come by it naturally. Some just have it and some don’t, but you’re trying to build it. Our kids just kicked butt, especially in the second half.”

While it stayed close for most of the first half, Corner Canyon’s defense struggled to keep up with IMG’s offensive pressure. The Chargers’ defense gave up 21 points in the second quarter, including a 21-yard passing touchdown with 11 seconds left before halftime.

What was a close one-touchdown game quickly turned into a 28-14 IMG lead at halftime. Something drastic needed to change if Corner Canyon wanted its national win.

Luckily for Corner Canyon, it had four-star quarterback Helaman Casuga and five-star wide receiver Jerome Myles ready to turn the game around.

But before Casuga’s and Myles’ heroics, it was the Chargers’ defense that stepped up. After allowing 21 points in the second quarter, Corner Canyon kept IMG scoreless in the third.

The momentum seemed to flip in favor of Corner Canyon after its defense forced a turnover on downs midway through the quarter, and the Chargers followed it up with a one-yard touchdown run by Casuga, and then the Casuga-Myles connection couldn’t be stopped.

After converting on fourth down, Casuga found Myles for a one-handed catch in the end zone, which tied the game 28-28 with seven minutes remaining.

The Corner Canyon defense stepped up yet again with a huge fumble recovery, and it capitalized with yet another Casuga to Myles touchdown, this one from 44 yards out.

For the first time in the game Corner Canyon led, 35-28.

“(It’s) a great connection,” said Kjar. “Helaman (Casuga) is just starting to figure everything out, too, like what scheme we’re doing, where to look for areas to throw in, reading the coverage. He showed great poise. He’s a great playmaker and he did a great job today.

“Same with Jerome. (He’s) a big-time player and you just kind of saw their confidence grow and grow as the game went on and they kind of got the groove, which is what you need offensively.”

Even with the lead, Corner Canyon knew IMG still had plenty of time to score with the clock sitting at 4:45, and IMG did just that for the first time in the second half on an 8-yard run from Tranard Roberts to make the score 35-34.

With 1:33 remaining, IMG Academy head coach Sean Campbell made the gutsy call to go for two. With the biggest win in school, and arguably state history on the line, the Corner Canyon defense held IMG out of the end zone and held on for the 35-34 win.

“(The second half defense) was a big part, which basically enabled us to do what we did today,” Kjar said. “So us being able to come back, and them scoring one touchdown in the second half helped us a ton just being able to work back and get back into it.”

Offensively it was Casuga who generated the Corner Canyon offense. He ended the night with four passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown.

Casuga is a new addition to this year’s Corner Canyon offense, but he’s more than proved his worth in his first two games with 10 total touchdowns and zero interceptions.

“We turned up,” Casuga said. “We obviously had some mistakes coming into the half that we weren’t proud of, so we obviously just needed to know we got two more quarters, to know (it’s) going to be a long game and we just went out and did our thing.”

Of Casuga’s four passing touchdowns on Thursday, Myles was the recipient three times. Despite their individual talents, the Casuga-Myles connection wasn’t something that came easy to either of them. Myles said it took extra hours of practice to get each other on the same page.

“It took staying after practice every day for two hours and just going through the motions together,” Myles said. “It took walking through it, then running through it over and over again.”

After securing the win, Casuga said he couldn’t believe it.

“I was shocked,” Casuga said. “I’m super blessed and grateful for the opportunity. IMG is just a great team. They obviously made it hard, and it wasn’t an easy game. I’m grateful for our team. We worked all year for this.”