Prep football: Box Elder plays best game of season, beating Bonneville 37-8
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- Box Elder running back Daxton Sumko (31) and Bonneville safety Mason Tanner (80) grasp each other’s facemasks as Sumko runs the ball during a Region 5 football game Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, in Washington Terrace.
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- Box Elder running back Easton White (2) breaks a Bonneville tackle as Lakers defender Broc Summers (13) fights a blocker during a Region 5 football game Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, in Washington Terrace. (BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner)
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- Bonneville running back Tifaga Havili carries the ball against Box Elder during a Region 5 football game Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, in Washington Terrace. (BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner)
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- Bonneville’s Kena Kailiponi (51) yells as he and teammate Hunter Davis (3) take the field before a Region 5 football game against Box Elder on Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, in Washington Terrace. (BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner)
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- Box Elder running back Daxton Sumko (31) tries to run past a Bonneville tackler during a Region 5 football game Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, in Washington Terrace. (BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner)
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- Bonneville receiver Isaac Mansaray runs for a big gain against Box Elder during a Region 5 football game Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, in Washington Terrace. (BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner)
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- Box Elder receiver Braylon Majors runs with the ball during a Region 5 football game against Bonnevile on Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, in Washington Terrace. (BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner)
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- Bonneville’s Ashton Archuleta (7) runs the ball between Box Elder defenders Andrew Clifford (18) and Cooper Stevenson (5) during a Region 5 football game Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, in Washington Terrace. (BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner)
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- Bonneville’s Tifaga Havili (32) runs the ball as Box Elder’s Cole Mortensen (4) and Keaton Jeppsen (30) converge during a Region 5 football game Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, in Washington Terrace. (BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner)
STORY: Bountiful beats Northridge, clinches Region 5 outright
WASHINGTON TERRACE — The last two weeks saw Box Elder’s Region 5 title hopes fall apart in two games the team felt it could’ve won, had one or two things been different.
Friday’s region finale against Bonneville could’ve been more of the same for the Bees. Their head coach, Robbie Gunter, admitted after the game that one of the team’s problems so far was that players would somewhat dwell on mistakes instead of rebound from them.
Pretty much everything about Friday’s 37-8 drubbing of the Lakers was excellent for Box Elder, from the way it bounced back from a big, early setback to the way the Bees took control against a good Bonneville squad.
“For sure, finally we put some things together, overcame some adversity and just kept playing football,” Gunter said. “In the past, we’d kind of made some mistakes and dwelled on that, I was so proud of our guys for just competing. Lose two tough games, it’s easy to hang your head. I feel like it’s easy to cash it in. These guys did the hard work and battled.”
In this case, “adversity” meant Bonneville (6-3, 2-3 Region 5) scoring on its second play from scrimmage while there was still sunlight on the field.
Jaxon Johnson completed a 63-yard pass to Isaac Mansaray, Johnson ran in for a 2-yard score, then flipped the ball to Ashton Archuleta for a 2-point conversion and an 8-0 lead with 11:27 left in the first quarter.
After that, the game was all Box Elder’s, even if the score took a while to reflect that.
“I think it’s one of the better (games) we’ve played for sure, we put it all together today,” senior Cole Mortensen said.
The Bees’ first drive crossed midfield but stalled. So did their second drive.
Finally, Dax Sumko crossed the goal line on a 2-yard run to cut Bonneville’s lead to 8-7 early in the second quarter. Box Elder’s philosophy on offense is to get several players involved in both the run game and passing game though many games, Sumko ends up running the ball 25-30 times.
Friday, the Bees (6-3, 3-2) got Easton White and Mason Jeppsen involved in the run game early. Then the pass game opened up and receivers started catching throws on the numbers from Ryan Griffin.
“I feel like it was a whole team effort, everyone played their part, everybody did their job, everybody did good,” Mortensen said.
Bonneville went nowhere on offense after its first drive. Following the touchdown, their drives went punt, punt, interception, punt, punt, interception, interception.
The Bees’ defense got through Bonneville’s offensive line enough times to unsettle Johnson, and their downfield coverage forced the Lakers into mostly short throws.
Mortensen’s pick late in the second quarter put Box Elder at its own 5-yard line with 2:24 left in the first half, but the Bees engineered a 95-yard scoring drive that ended with Mortensen diving for, and successfully touching, the pylon on an 8-yard TD run with one second left for a 14-8 halftime advantage.
“That was big because we got the momentum going into halftime and we didn’t let it go,” Mortensen said.
A couple plays earlier, Mortensen hauled in a 32-yard catch on the sideline to move the ball across midfield.
Box Elder received the second-half kickoff and scored five plays later when Ryan Griffin’s pass found Mason Jeppsen for a 40-yard score. Then Mortensen kicked a 38-yard field goal to make it 23-8.
An 85-yard Box Elder drive yielded Sumko’s second TD run of the night, this one coming from 20 yards and set up by a 27-yard catch by Jackson McKee, making it 30-8.
For good measure, Jeppsen picked off a pass the next drive and returned it to the Bonneville 9. McKee caught a TD pass the next play (to make it 37-8), then Cooper Stevenson picked off Cole Lueders the next drive to end the game for real.
Though Box Elder won and likely improved its RPI ranking from No. 16, thus furthering the odds of it hosting a home playoff game, two-way playmaker Tallin Chappell left in the second half with a right knee injury which may be a factor for the Bees down the road.
Ridgeline awaits the Bees next week on Wednesday, so there’s a further chance of improving the playoff positioning. Then it will be time for the playoffs.
Despite Bonneville’s loss, the sky isn’t falling. The Lakers don’t play next week and will likely drop from their No. 8 spot in the RPI, meaning they’d host a first-round playoff game instead of having two weeks off before hosting a No. 9 seed.
A seed of, say No. 10, would give the young Bonneville squad a winnable first-round game at home and a winnable second-round game as well, despite it being on the road.
WOODS CROSS 31, VIEWMONT 19
WOODS CROSS — Britton Christensen kicked a 34-yard field goal to give Viewmont a 19-17 lead with 4 seconds left in the first half, but Woods Cross responded with two touchdowns in the second half to secure the win.
Woods Cross (6-3, 4-1 Region 5) ran out to a 17-0 lead after one quarter on a Bradley Bailey 37-yard run, a Jacob Howes 62-yard gallop and a Howes 43-yard field goal.
Miles McGrath got Viewmont (4-5, 1-4) on the board with a 79-yard run, Christensen split the uprights from 31 yards out, and Sterling Hansen recovered a WX fumble in the end zone to make the score 17-16 before Christensen’s second field goal.
The Wildcats took the lead back for good on a Bailey 3-yard scamper in the third quarter, then Kelvan Malepeai scored on a 3-yard run with 5:12 left in the game for the final margin.
Cash Henderson led Woods Cross with 82 rushing yards, Howes had 63 and Bailey added 60. The Wildcat rushing attack totaled 252 yards. Bailey completed one pass to Ryan Moss for 24 yards.
Luke Jacobs rushed for 82 yards and completed 11 of 26 passing attempts for 109 yards. McGrath rushed for 90 yards on six carries.
MTN CREST 41, BEAR RIVER 13
GARLAND — Kyver Jensen kicked his second field goal to pull Bear River to within 21-13 with 11:20 left in the game, then Mountain Crest responded with three unanswered touchdowns.
Jensen booted a 33-yard field goal to give Bear River (2-7, 1-4 Region 11) an early lead. Owen Olsen scored on a 17-yard scamper to give the Bears a 10-6 lead with 9:30 left in the first half.
After two MC touchdowns and a two-point conversion, Jensen converted a 21-yarder for BR’s final points.
Olsen completed 21 of 32 attempts for 167 yards and three interceptions. Tydon Jones rushed for 45 yards and Olson added 43. The Bears gave up 438 yards of total offense.
Justin Johnson contributed to score reports.
