Program History | Corner Canyon Football

While Corner Canyon never got down by too much, it overcame a less-than-stellar first half to beat Lone Peak 35-20 for its third straight 6A title.

The clear star of the game was Corner Canyon’s Weston Briggs, he reached the end zone three times in the second half and ended the game with 170 rushing yards on 21 carries. He also had big runs late to get the necessary first-downs to put the Knights away. Briggs’ four touchdown mark ties for the third-most in a championship game in state history.

Casuga ended the game with 150 passing yards and 68 rushing yards. Despite sitting for most of his junior year in 2024, Casuga put up 11,510 passing yards in his high school career, which places him fourth in the record book.

“Every coach says it, but (hard work) is 100% the reason why we’re able to be consistently a good team,” Corner Canyon head coach Eric Kjar said. “Without that, without work, you’re nothing.”

This win is the sixth championship for Corner Canyon and the seventh for Kjar in his career. Kjar is now tied for the second-most championships for a coach in state history, & his record at Corner Canyon is now 112-9.

After Corner Canyon won the 6A state championship the Chargers were invited to participate in the inaugural “Overtime Nationals,” an event being billed as the high school football national championship. In the most recent MaxPreps national high school football rankings, St. Frances is ranked No. 2 while Corner Canyon is ranked No. 23.

Burke ran for over 100 yards and a touchdown, and Virginia running back signee Jae'Oyn Williams threw for three touchdowns as St. Frances — the second-ranked team in the country by MaxPreps — rallied to a 37-20 win over No. 23 Corner Canyon in the Overtime High School National Championship at Under Armor Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland.

Corner Canyon is averaging 50 points a game in the playoffs. Only 15 teams have averaged more, all-time. Corner Canyon makes its seventh consecutive championship-game appearance. That’s the third longest streak in state history. The Chargers have also won at least three playoff games seven years in a row, the second longest streak all-time. In terms of winning percentage in the playoffs, Corner Canyon ranks first all-time (.838) with a 31-6 record.

Prior to Thursday’s championship between Corner Canyon and Lone Peak, only five teams had ever recovered from a 14-point or greater deficit to win the state title. The last time it happened was a 2A championship comeback in 2008 when North Summit rallied to beat Manti.

Corner Canyon became the sixth team ever to mount such a comeback as it defeated Lone Peak 30-27 to win its second consecutive 6A championship.

“Our group of seniors, we challenged them to just keep grinding, keep working, stay the process, stuff will workout,” Kjar said. “They believed and I think we owe a lot of it to them and what they did, so proud of those guys.”

The win also marked Kjar’s 100th as head coach of Corner Canyon. Since taking over in 2017, Kjar’s teams have gone 100-8.

Corner Canyon’s explosive offense is averaging 48.0 ppg this season. Quarterback Isaac Wilson has been great this season at taking what defenses are giving him as he’s mixed up the run and pass exceptionally well. He’s passed for 4,257 yards and 48 TDs while rushing for 1,110 yards and 10 TDs. He also has some great complementary weapons with running back Bryton Brady, who totaled seven TDs in the semifinals, and receiver Tate Kjar, who’s tallied 1,713 yards and 16 TDs.

Isaac Wilson’s 54-yard touchdown run straight through the heart of Skyridge’s defense — the same defense that shut Wilson down in last year’s 6A state championship — was the knockout blow that led Corner Canyon to the 41-27 victory over Skyridge on Friday night in the 6A title game.

Wilson finished the season with 4,508 passing yards and 49 passing TDs, which rank fourth and 10th in state history respectively. He also finished with 1,270 rushing yards and 13 TDs on the ground.

His performance helped Corner Canyon reclaim the 6A state title after back-to-back runner-up finishes the past two seasons to Lone Peak and Skyridge. Prior to that, the Chargers had won three straight state championships.

“The big thing to our kids all week was to play loose, play relaxed and go play football,” said Kjar, who credited the senior leadership of his captains for leading that mentality into the game.

Playing at Rice-Eccles Stadium is beginning to feel like a home game as the Corner Canyon High School football team has been on the field for the last five state championship games. This year, the Eric Kjar-coached team came up short against Skyridge 17-7 Nov. 18 after another run to get back to the title matchup in which they won from 2018 to 2020.

In the championship, Corner Canyon gave up a touchdown on the Falcons’ opening drive before responding and tying the game—with a 25-yard touchdown catch from junior quarterback Isaac Wilson to junior wide receiver Tate Kjar on their ensuing possession. That TD would prove to be the Chargers only score of the game as a late offensive series was stopped inside the five-yard line of Skyridge with three minutes left in the game and then a desperation heave as the clock ran out was intercepted by the Falcons.

To reach the state title game, Corner Canyon defeated Layton 63-18 Oct. 28 in the second round, going up 63-0 by halftime. Senior Drew Patterson rushed for two touchdowns while grabbing a 20-yard TD pass from Wilson with wide receivers Quinn Hale (two TDs), Kjar (two TDs) and Jackson Ames also scoring for the offense. McRay Briggs scooped up a fumble recovery for a score as well. Junior defensive end Kash Dillon led defensively with seven tackles in the blowout of the Lancers.

In the quarterfinals against West Nov. 4, the Chargers won 35-7. Patterson scored four TDs with Hale adding a five-yard TD reception late in the third quarter.

Against Farmington Nov. 10 in the semifinal game, Corner Canyon broke a 28-28 tie with an 87-yard kick return for a score by sophomore Bryton Brady and senior Owen Borg blocking a Phoenix punt on the ensuing possession and took the ball 11 yards to the endzone, marking the turning point of the game in the eventual 17-point win.

Over the course of the season, Wilson threw for more than 4,000 yards and 44 touchdowns while Patterson was a 1,000-yard rusher with 16 TDs and Kjar had 1,600 receiving yards and 19 TDs.

Brinton and Borg anchored the defense with nearly 100 tackles each with senior Tank Mitchell recording eight sacks and Borg snagging five INTs.

Corner Canyon’s remarkable string of consecutive state wins and state championships both came to an end this season. The 48-game winning streak – which tied a state record – was stopped by Lone Peak Oct. 7 when the Knights defeated the Chargers 41-16. The three straight state title run was also halted by Lone Peak Nov. 19 at Rice Eccles Stadium when the Knights outlasted Corner Canyon in a shootout 49-42.

“Overall, I felt that our team performed well during the state tournament,” said head coach Eric Kjar. “We didn’t finish the way we wanted. I thought our kids played really hard and competed well.”

In the 6A state playoffs, the Chargers beat Kearns 49-14, American Fork 45-28 and Weber 48-13 to reach the 6A championship game. Corner Canyon finished the season with a 12-2 record, outscoring opponents 672 to 247.

The Chargers’ 48-game winning streak began in 2018 and spanned three entire seasons until the midway point of this fall’s lineup. There have been the occasional close calls in Corner Canyon’s winning streak, but for the most part it’s been blowout city in Draper with an average margin of victory of 33.1 points over the 48-game winning streak. Of the Chargers’ 48 wins, offensive and defensive total yards for both teams are available for 44 games. Corner Canyon’s average total offense in those games is 481 yards while it’s only surrendering 261 yards on average.

“Everything we’ve accomplished in our program is based off our kids. We have really good kids, but they also just buy into everything,” said Kjar. “It’s hard as a coach to make sure you’re kids are consistent, but everything you ask of them in our program, the lifting, the running, the film, the focus, the hard work in practice, all the things that make up a team, the attitude, all those things have been there as a collective group every year.”

“That streak was a great accomplishment by the program over the years,” senior linebacker Harrison Taggart said. “It speaks greatly of Coach Kjar, Coach Sutera and all of my amazing coaches.”

Kjar was proud of his team for winning a share of the Region 4 title, particularly with how competitive the region is. “We had to replace some key players from the year before and those players stepped up and played well,” he said.

Senior wide receiver Cody Hagen, who is committed to BYU, was recently named the 2021 Utah Gatorade Player of the Year, joining his older brother and father who also received the recognition. Other records broken this season by CCHS players were the state passing yards record in a season by senior quarterback – and Ohio State-commit – Devin Brown, the state Point-After-Attempts (PATs) record for a season by senior Cody Christensen and the state career tackles mark by Taggart, who will play for Oregon.

Corner Canyon rolled to its third straight state championship in 2020 — two at the 6A level, one in 5A — including a 45-7 win over Lone Peak in the state championship game. Corner Canyon averaged 49 points per game and won by an average of 31 points this season, going 14-0. In the home stretch of one of the most dominant high school football seasons in state history, Corner Canyon wasn’t about to let ‘what ifs’ be the lasting memory of an obstacle-riddled 2020 season.

The Chargers absolutely dominated Friday’s 6A state championship at Cedar Valley High School, turning in probably their most complete performance of the season in a resounding 45-7 victory over region foe Lone Peak.

Corner Canyon quarterback Jaxson Dart capped his magical senior season passing for 329 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 116 more yards and a score.

He finishes the season with a state record 67 touchdown passes, and then 79 total touchdowns. He came come up 43 yards shy of the single season passing yards state record, but did set a new total offense state record, finishing with 5,867 yards of total offense.

The No. 8 nationally-ranked Chargers finished the season 14-0 and undefeated for the third year in a row and currently have a 40 game winning streak.

Few teams have made it look easier than the Chargers, not just for the 2019 season, which they topped off with a resounding 49-14 win over American Fork on Friday, but for two years running. No losses over those two years, coupled with 26 wins and two straight championships over two classifications speaks loudly to the program’s dominance.

The Corner Canyon Chargers behind the arm of quarterback Cole Hagen and impressive pass defense, defeated the American Fork Cavemen to win the 6A state championship.

The Chargers defeated the Cavemen 49-14 on Friday, November 22 to win state championships in back-to-back seasons. Hagen threw for 349 yards and 4 touchdowns in the victory. The Chargers’ defense intercepted American Fork QB Maddux Madsen four times in the blowout.

The No. 7 nationally-ranked Chargers finished the season 14-0 and undefeated for the second year in a row.

Following a perfect regular season through eight games, the Chargers blew out opponents 142-24 in the first three playoff games, culminating in a 31-14 win over Skyridge in the title game Nov. 16 at Rice Eccles Stadium.

In its first playoff game, the Chargers dominated Murray 70-3 Oct. 27, blowing out the Spartans with 56 first-half points.

In the quarterfinals against Viewmont Nov. 2, the score was 52-0 before the Vikings scored with 35 seconds left in the game, making the final winning margin 52-6.

Against Olympus in the semifinals, Corner Canyon won 20-15 Nov. 9. The Chargers came back from being down after the first three quarters to score with just under two minutes left in the game on a one-yard run by Johnson to take the lead and win the game.