Coming off a 3-0 loss to rival Wasatch on his home turf, Park City head coach Caro Caro did something unthinkable.

He sat some of his best players for nearly the entire next match.

“I wanted them to sit with me and see what a young team can do and do what the coach asks them to do,” Caro said. “One of the problems we talked about is regressing; their responsibilities are carrying this team. It’s not that they’re defying the coach or that they’re knuckleheads, they just need to play their game.”

“I just told them this is what we need to do focus and believe.”

Even without the likes of seniors Anthony Alcox and Eric Laufer, Park City’s two starting fullbacks and others, a team built mostly of underclassmen trounced visiting Union 4-0 Friday at Dozier Field.

Park City struck within the first five minutes and didn’t look back. The Miners had two goals from junior forward Keenan McCall and one from senior Kyler Effinger.

“I told them to analyze the game as they were on the bench and focus on what the kids were doing,” Caro said of his team leaders sitting beside him. “My younger players played very organized, very well.”

After Park City picked up a few injuries in the second half, Caro began inserting his starters one by one. The usual starting 11 for the Miners were on the field the last 15 minutes of the match. Alcox added a late goal to round out the scoring.

“I think Union is a pretty tough team; they showed us how physically strong they are,” he said. “I had to come up with the last tricks in my hat against Union. It was a good start.

It gave me a chance to assess the younger class, who played with possession, passion and strength; sometimes I wish I had a player with a lot of heart and was looking for one against Union and had a few of them.”

Park City (9-4-1) now has one regular-season match left today against visiting Carbon. The Miners are hoping to finish the season strong as a cohesive unit.

Caro said while his team leaders didn’t take starting the match on the bench well, they came around to the idea once they began talking to their head coach about the team’s overall scheme and flow of attack.

“Again, this is within the point I’m trying to make,” he said. “They were ready to redeem themselves after Wasatch. They were so ready to go, so I told them to hold on. I had to ask them to analyze and be in the position. To witness how can you assess a game and how can you help a team work like a team. Of course they’re going to be a little disappointed and sad about not starting, but I think they needed that. I think they needed to get back.

“They realized that. We need to think. To instill in these kids the importance of assessing themselves. We’re a unit.”

If the current 3A regular-season standings hold, Park City will host Richfield in a first-round playoff matchup.

Looming large, though, should the Miners advance, would be a trip down south to face 13-0-1 Desert Hills in St. George.

Caro said his team hasn’t played a complete match yet this season and he is waiting for his team to erupt and finally click on all cylinders.

“The way things are going, we’ll play Desert Hills,” he said. “If we’re going to think about making history, we have to start thinking about it now. If we play the game we’ve been waiting for all season to play, with excellence, hard work and doing what we know best always remembering the direction, scheme and doing the best we can I think we can beat anybody in the state.

“We’re waiting for that one game, I tell the kids: ‘We have not come out to play to our full potential.’ I say to them, ‘Guess what? This is destiny.'”