The Hurricane football team was cursed. No doubt about it.

But the Tigers hadn't worried about black cats, broken mirrors or stepping on a crack. They would always get to the Class 3A championship, and they would always lose in the game's final seconds.

So no one can blame coach Chris Homer, even when he had an insurmountable lead, if he wanted to wait until the clock reached zero before anybody started celebrating the championship they were seconds away from winning.

"I was still yelling at them," Homer said. "I was a little mad we started celebrating early."

Maybe the team was still looking over its shoulder, wondering what could befall it next. But at the end of a snowy, gritty title game, Hurricane had shattered the hex that had given it so much misery the past three seasons.

The fourth time turned out to be the Tigers' year to take state, as they crushed Region 9 rival Desert Hills 21-0 at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Friday night.

It seemed Hurricane had waited eons to win its first 11-man football championship. When the moment had arrived, the Tigers didn't seem quite to know what to say.

"I can't explain it," fullback Brian Scott said. "It's just the best feeling. So huge."

The blizzard that settled into the stadium as the game prepared to start was probably not what the players were imagining when they envisioned what it would be like to win a state title. But the storm turned out to be a key advantage for Hurricane, which churned out 263 yards rushing.

The Tigers gained steam in the second half, even as the snow started sticking to the ground. A 6-0 halftime lead became a 9-0 lead, then a 15-0 lead, then finally a 21-0 lead. The beefy Scott was the star, leading the team with 108 yards on the ground and scoring all three touchdowns.

Hurricane doesn't get much snow over the course of the year, and neither does St. George, where Desert Hills is based.

But Homer had a thought that the unfamiliar conditions would turn the game in his team's favor.

"We're a straight-ahead pounding team, and we have been all year," he said. "This senior class was not going to be denied, even in these un-Southern Utah-like conditions."

The team completed only three passes, but the running game picked up the slack. Wes Yardley added 64 yards, and Adam Thompson had 74 to help lift the Tigers.

Meanwhile, the Thunder struggled to get anything going. Quarterback Porter Harris was only 7-for-20 for 66 yards and threw three interceptions. Running back Mike Needham was held to 37 yards on the ground, and Desert Hills gained only 117 yards of offense as a team.

The shutout was a sweet touch to the Tiger's victory.

"We're a second-half team, and I think we showed that today," lineman Sean Hafen said. "We're workmen, and this is our dream. Fourth time's the charm, I guess."

It was something of a charmed season for Hurricane, which went undefeated despite having its smallest senior class in years. After three seasons of losing to Juan Diego on a field goal, a Hail Mary, and another last-second field goal, it was much-needed relief for a team and a community used to being close enough to touch the trophy yet falling short.

Lineman Zach Wright's grandfather was on Hurricane's last title team — a 6-man squad in 1948. And Wright, a senior, had plans for a celebration when he got home to see one of the few fellow Tiger alums to win a championship.

"When I get there," Wright said. "I'm just going to give him a big hug."

kgoon@sltrib.com

Twitter: @kylegoon —

Highlights

R In its fourth straight 3A title game, Hurricane finally breaks through to beat Desert Hills.

• The Tigers gain 263 rushing yards in snowy conditions.

• Fullback Brian Scott plows ahead for 108 yards and 3 touchdowns.

> More photos of the game at www.tribpreps.com