In their 2009 homecoming game, the Cedar High Redmen narrowly missed out on a victory against the 4A, No. 4-ranked Pine View Panthers.

Pine View hung on for a hard-fought 28-26 win last Friday night.

The Panthers started the game off sharp, as they returned the opening kickoff all the way to the Cedar 38-yard line. Running back Matt Feula rushed for consecutive first downs, and quarterback Alec Mecham found a wide-open Cole Wilstead for a 9-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead.

Midway through the second period, after forcing a fourth down, Cedar’s Bradley Williams broke through the line and blocked Pine View’s punt. He scooped up the ball before Shane Wright made a touchdown-saving tackle.

On the following possession, quarterback Jackson Carter converted a run up the middle on third and five to keep the drive going. Two plays later, running back Adam Rice found the end zone from 6 yards out, tying the game 7-7.

Pine View responded with another touchdown drive, culminating when Mecham again found Wilstead in the end zone on a 12-yard scoring strike, regaining the lead 14-7.

After another Cedar punt, the Panthers took over with just under two minutes remaining in the half and perfectly executed a two-minute drill.

Feula started things off with a 44-yard run, followed by a 17-yard pass from Mecham to Mike McClaws.

On the next play, Mecham found Chris McDonald all alone for a 48-yard touchdown catch and run, giving the Panthers a 21-7 halftime lead.

“We didn’t make any genius adjustments at the half,” Cedar coach Todd Peacock said. “We just said that we needed to come out in the second half and fill our assignments.”

The Redmen took the second half kickoff and marched the ball all the way to the Panthers’ 1-yard line. On the next play, Rice tried to score, but was stripped by Pine View’s Feula, who returned the ball 99 yards for a touchdown. After the play, the referees huddled and decided that Rice’s forward progress was stopped prior to the strip, and Cedar retained possession.

“The referee signaled that he was down,” Peacock said of the play. “Hats off to them for making the right call in that situation.”

Cedar took advantage of the fortuitous decision as Carter scored to cut the deficit to 21-13. The extra point was blocked, which would turn out to be a deciding factor late in the game.

After a defensive stand by the Redmen, Carter teamed with Rice as they drove the ball all the way to the Panther 1-yard line, and Carter sliced through the defense for his second touchdown of the game, making the score 21-20 for the Panthers.

“We fought back from (being down) 21-7,” Carter said. “I thought we showed a lot of heart.”

Pine View’s final score of the game came in the fourth quarter, when Mecham again hit Wilstead for a touchdown, the duo’s third of the night. After tacking on the extra point, Cedar trailed 28-20 with time for a final drive.

Jon Jones took the kickoff and made an electrifying return all the way to the Panther 41-yard line. Three plays later, McKay Ashdown took an end around 29 yards for a touchdown, setting up a two-point conversion to try to tie the game. The Panther defense held, stopping Cedar just shy of the end zone, and running out the clock to hang on for the win.

“I am really happy with our team’s effort,” Peacock said. “I know they will come back next week and continue to give this type of effort.”

Carter agreed with his coach.

“If we take the same mentality from tonight into each week, we are going to win a lot of ball games,” he said.