71st Iron Horse Game: Ben Lomond football beats Ogden for 1st time since 2016, clinches 1st winning season since 2000
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- Ben Lomond’s Jaxon Watson (2) and Charlie Thornblad (6) celebrate a touchdown against Ogden in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
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- Ben Lomond’s Hunter Christensen (1) carries the ball as Ogden’s Jayden Long attempts a tackle in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
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- Ogden’s Gordy Allred (55) hits Ben Lomond’s Manase Tuatagaloa (5) as the ball gets away in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
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- Ben Lomond’s Jaxon Watson, left, fights an Ogden tackler in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
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- Ogden’s Kale Adams throws a pass against Ben Lomond in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
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- Ogden’s Max Trujillo carries the football against Ben Lomond in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
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- Ogden’s Sammy Sarlo (4) and Kire Thompson (2) pursue Ben Lomond quarterback Manase Tuatagaloa (5) in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
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- Ben Lomond’s Manase Tuatagaloa (5) throws a pass as Ogden’s John O’Neil (44) applies pressure in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
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- Ben Lomond’s Manase Tuatagaloa throws what would be a touchdown pass against Ogden in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
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- Ogden’s Dallon Miller carries the football against Ben Lomond in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
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- Ben Lomond’s Kenyon Marks carries the football against Ogden in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
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- Ben Lomond’s Charlie Thornblad catches a pass against Ogden in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
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- Ogden’s Dallon Miller receives the football against Ben Lomond in the Iron Horse Game on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, at BLHS in Ogden.
OGDEN — Gates opened for the 71st Iron Horse prep football game at 3:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon. People were waiting to get in Ben Lomond High School’s football stadium at 3:15 p.m.
One of the most highly anticipated Ben Lomond-Ogden matchups in recent history didn’t deliver on the field in terms of watchability for the most of the night, thanks in part to 37 combined penalties and plenty of miscues between the teams.
It will, however, deliver the Iron Horse traveling trophy back to the north side of Harrison Boulevard.
Seven years separated Ben Lomond’s most recent Iron Horse triumph and Thursday night’s 21-7 win over the Tigers, and the Scots’ celebration reflected such.
“This means everything to me. I mean, last three years busting our a—- off as a team, and to be able to come out here and get this win, it means a lot to us,” BL senior lineman Miguel Santos said.
Santos, his eyes red with tears, dropped to his knees during the postgame celebration, appeared to pray, then crossed himself and rejoined the celebration.
“Last year we came close, didn’t get it. Last couple years, didn’t get it. I was saying at the beginning of the season, this team was special. We’d do something, we came and got it,” Santos said. “It means everything to me, it really does.”
Not only was the win the Scots’ first Iron Horse win since 2016, but it also clinched for Ben Lomond (6-4, 3-2 3A North) its first winning season since 2000, which will likely yield the Scots a first-round home playoff game.
The key stat was Ben Lomond’s defense forcing five turnovers (three interceptions and two fumble recoveries), and Ogden’s defense forcing zero.
“Huge, because they’re hard to stop, they’ve got some guys that are really dynamic. (Kire) Thompson and (Max) Trujillo, so every time we got a turnover, that’s — you usually win games when you win that battle,” BL head coach Lyndon Johnson said. “We’ve played them now six times and, you know, certain formations take you to certain plays, but our kids aligned properly most of the night. We got screwed up a couple of times, but we aligned and then we just did our job.”
Jaxon Watson took the opening kickoff 63 yards to the Ogden 31-yard line. Two plays later, Watson caught a wide-open, 33-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead after just 63 seconds of game time.
It wasn’t really a sign of things to come. The game turned into both a defensive struggle and neither team’s best game.
After the touchdown, the Tigers had the field-position advantage the rest of the first quarter. They got to the Ben Lomond 15, fumbled and the Scots recovered.
Ogden again drove to the red zone and came away with nothing after quarterback Kale Adams underthrew a receiver on fourth-and-goal from the BL 3-yard line.
The Tigers forced a punt on the ensuing BL drive, then the Scots sacked Adams on back-to-back plays to post a first-half shutout for only the second time all season.
One play after an Ogden player was ejected for a late hit and unsportsmanlike conduct in the third quarter, BL quarterback Manase Tuatagaloa threw off his back foot to Hunter Christensen, who went the rest of the way for a 21-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
Ogden changed quarterbacks to Will Minkevitch on the next drive, and his first pass was a pick-six for Ben Lomond defensive lineman Jake East. The Scots’ 14-0 lead already seemed insurmountable for Ogden, but 21-0 was even more so.
The win was equal parts defensive prowess for Ben Lomond and overall capitulation for Ogden.
“I think you gotta give credit where credit’s due, there’s a lot of things that could’ve gone differently and we win that game,” OHS coach Erik Thompson said. “But they didn’t and I think that’s a credit to their kids. Kept their composure better than us. Their kids, I felt, played harder than ours and I felt like we got outcoached today.
“With all that said, we got the ball two times inside the 5, we have penalties and mistakes and don’t score.”
The Tigers couldn’t run the ball for most of the night until Max Trujillo broke a long run down the left sideline. He stepped out of bounds at the Ben Lomond 3-yard line and kept going into the end zone and the referees signaled a touchdown with 5:54 left in the game.
Ben Lomond recovered the ensuing onside kick and milked 4 minutes and 18 seconds off the clock. The Scots didn’t score but left Ogden (4-6, 1-4) virtually no time to make up a 14-point deficit.
Christensen picked off Minkevitch to allow the Scots to kneel out the game.
When it was finally time to celebrate, the players dumped water on Johnson and offensive coordinator Nate Tuatagaloa.
“Well, I feel great for our school and our kids and our program. That game’s really important to everybody, but for us, it’s really important,” Johnson said.
In an even more fitting occurrence, it started raining while the BL students and players celebrated on the field.
Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.
