Parowan is making history under Carter Miller

Monument Valley High School's football stadium faces toward its namesake, offering views rarely seen anywhere, let alone while watching a game. Those scenic shots have served as the backdrop of countless movies through the years. Last Friday, they were the backdrop to Parowan football history. 

The Rams beat the Cougars 83-6 last weekend, setting the school scoring record and becoming just the eighth team since 1943 to score over 80 points, according to Utah high school football historian George Felt.

Parowan did it in all aspects of the game, scoring three defensive touchdowns, three special teams touchdowns and six more with the offense. 

“It was just a beautiful stadium,” Parowan head coach Carter Miller said. “They were so nice to us, too and fed us after the game. It was a beautiful place.”

Hutch Miller’s performance was a sample of the entire team’s. He scored four touchdowns during the historic win. And scored them in a variety of ways. He got things started by taking a punt back 55 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. Later in that quarter, he intercepted a pass and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown. And then he added two rushing touchdowns.

“We had two punt returns for a touchdown, a blocked punt we recovered in the end zone, two pick-6’s, everything was clicking,” Carter Miller said. “Even our backups and were moving the ball. We only threw the ball three times and that was in the first quarter.”

It was just one of those days. A near perfect game. In a near perfect place. 

And while the city of Parowan isn’t quite as scenic (but also nothing to sneeze at) as Monument Valley’s grand vistas, the Rams are having more and more days like that ever since coach Miller took over before the 2017 season. 

He inherited a program that knew much more about losing than winning,  but those days seem to be behind the Rams. With the win over the Cougars, Parowan improved to 2-1 heading into this week’s matchup at Layton Christian Academy. A winning record three games into the year used to be something worth celebrating for Parowan, but after the Rams won 8 games last season and made it to the 1A state semifinals in Miller’s first year as coach, winning is starting to be the norm. 

“We want it to be an expectation here now,” coach Miller said. “I think we are getting there. We expect to win and the days of thinking we’ll lose are over. We hope that continues.”

With a team that is not only full of solid senior leadership in the likes of Porter Wood, Trey Jense, Daniel Horton and Codey Hanson but also underclassmen that are playing key roles, Miller has set up the program so that the winning culture can continue. 

"We are really together,” Miller said. “A good group that has bought into what we are trying to do. They are excited about football and Parowan is excited about football and that hasn’t happened for a while.”

It’s not hard to see why people are excited. Just three games into his second season, Miller’s Parowan teams have scored over 40 points seven times, including the top two scoring totals in school history. 

“We try to keep it simple,” coach Miller said. “We have a system that we run and our little league is even running it now. That’s something I wanted to do. The offense had changed a lot in Parowan and we wanted to keep it the same every year. The kids have bought into it and they execute it really well. We have maybe two or three formations and 20-30 plays and that’s it.”

It’s simple. But it’s making history.