The Miners football team kicks off 5A region play this Friday the 3rd at 7:00pm vs. East High School at Dozier Field. Park City began the season 0-3 in non-region play in August.

Last fall, the Miners competed in 4A region 10, finishing 7-0 in their region, eventually losing to Ridgeview High School by seven in the State Quarterfinals. This season, Park City moved up to 5A region 6.

Park City opened their season on August 13th at Dozier with a 21-15 loss to rival Wasatch High. The next Friday, the Miners traveled to Logan and suffered a brutal 21-17 loss to Green Canyon. This past Friday, Pine View defeated the Miners 49-35 in St. George. 

Miners varsity hadn’t lost three games in a row since late October of 2017.

Junior Chase Beyer, the varsity starting quarterback, was asked about the rocky start to the season.

“It’s just us. It’s just Park City vs Park City so far in our season, so just getting past all those little mistakes; execution and fine tuning is the main focus right now,” said Beyer.

The upcoming game against East will be the Miners’ first region game in 5A. In 2020, East High competed in 6A region 3, finished 8-5 and made it to the 6A semifinals as a 12 seed. They lost by 15 to the eventual 6A State Champion Corner Canyon High School, currently ranked #1 in the state and #23 in the entire nation. 

Beyer had a positive outlook for the Miners region play and upcoming matchup against East.

“Going into region, it’s just a whole new season. We play East this Friday, they’re a good physical football team, but if we execute and do what we need to do, we can be scary good,” said Beyer.

This will be Chase Beyer’s second season under center after throwing for over 1500 yards and 16 touchdowns to only 3 interceptions his sophomore campaign.

“For me, from this season to last year, I’m definitely a little more confident and just a little more experienced, and of course with more experience comes more comfort,” said Beyer.

Brighton was the 5A region 6 champion in 2020, finishing 9-0 in the regular season en route to a 1 seed. They beat Spanish Fork in the first round but were upset by 9 seed Timpview in a 35-24 loss, their lone loss of the season. Timpview went on to lose to 2 seeded Orem in the 5A championship game. Park City will face Brighton at home on October 1st.

Next Friday September 10th, Park City will travel to Murray to face the Spartans. Murray finished 1-7 in 2020, losing in the first round of the 5A tournament 36-0 against Springville. Looking for a bounceback season, the Spartans have started the 2021 season 2-1 with wins against Hillcrest and Copper Hills, already surpassing last year’s win total.

The Miners host Highland at Dozier on September 17, Park City’s homecoming game. Highland had a forgettable 2020, finishing 2-6 and losing in the first round to Spanish Fork. So far this season, Highland is 0-2.

The following week, September 24, Park City will play away against Olympus High. Olympus had a mediocre 2020 season, finishing the season 6-4. They lost to Timpview in the second round. 

On October 8th, Park City will wrap up the regular season at Skyline High. Skyline had a remarkable 2020 season, finishing 7-1 overall and entering the 5A tournament as a 7 seed. They lost in the quarterfinals to Orem, the 2020 5A champions.

Beyer noted that there was not one particular game he was looking forward to, and that each matchup will be a different challenge.

“Every week is a different week, and another opportunity to get over one game and then come in on Sunday and watch film, and then come in Monday and play for that next game. Every team is a little different… I just think every week is fun and it’s good to come in at the beginning of a week and just see what we need to do and work towards that W,” said Beyer.