CEDAR CITY — No. 2 Morgan High football used stifling defense and four rushing touchdowns to shut out No. 3 Grantsville, remaining undefeated and advancing to the 3A state championship game with a 27-0 blanking of the Cowboys on Saturday afternoon at Southern Utah University.

“We love being able to run the ball. We have a great offensive line and some great backs,” Morgan coach Jared Barlow said. “We want to run the ball.”

Morgan got a double dose of revenge on Grantsville this season after losing to the Cowboys 14-10 in last year’s 3A state championship game. The Trojans won a region matchup 38-20 to end September and added the 27-0 semifinal shutout Saturday.

“The motivation was that we left some stuff out on the field last year,” Barlow said.

Morgan (12-0) rushed for 188 yards and passed for 149. Gunnar Lish rushed for 93 yards on 15 carries and Jett Salmon carried the ball nine times for 88 yards.

The Trojans needed only three plays to score all the points they would need for the afternoon. Salmon took a handoff, sprinted around the edge and up the left sideline 68 yards for a score, and Morgan led 7-0 with 10:34 left in the first quarter.

“It was huge, being able to start fast, come out fast and put doubt in what their game plan was,” Barlow said.

On their third offensive series, Morgan put together a nine-play, 58-yard drive capped by a Lish 11-yard run for a 13-0 lead with 51 seconds left in the first quarter. Neither team scored in the second quarter.

Salmon scored his second touchdown to put the Trojans up 20-0 with 8:22 left in the third quarter on a 12-yard scamper. Then Lish matched Salmon with a 35-yard sprint up the middle on fourth-and-2 with 2 minutes left in the game.

Morgan’s defense held Grantsville (10-2) to 181 total yards. The Cowboys passed 7 for 22 for 87 yards and two interceptions.

“We didn’t make a whole lot of changes,” Barlow said. “We executed a little bit cleaner, made better tackles. Special teams did a better job of containing them, not giving them long returns.”

The Trojans will face No. 1 Juab in the 3A championship game on Friday, Nov. 11, at Utah Tech University in St. George. Juab beat No. 4 Canyon View 37-21 in its semifinal game.

Saturday’s game was Morgan’s third shutout of the season and fifth game holding its opponent without a touchdown. The Trojans have outscored opponents 481-87 this season, or an average of 40-7 per game.

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