High school football: 5 intriguing flashback results from Week 2

Beaver stuns heavy 2A favorite San Juan

Friday’s matchup between the Beavers and the Broncos was a fight between two heavyweights. Before Beaver moved down to 1A in 2023, the two schools played in the 2A championship game in 2021 and 2022. San Juan claimed both championship wins and won each of its last five matchups with Beaver.

In the last two seasons in 1A, Beaver has lost only two total games, while winning two back-to-back 1A state championships.

Meanwhile, San Juan has dominated 2A with four consecutive 2A championships, while losing only three games since its 2021 season.

Beaver finally claimed revenge on Friday with its first victory over San Juan since 2017: a 33-30 road win.

It was all San Juan to start after it claimed a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, but Beaver fought back with a 14-0 run of its own to even things up at halftime.

The second half was a similar story, with Beaver and San Juan trading scores. The Beavers managed to score two unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter to take a 33-22 lead, but San Juan scored with six minutes left to bring it within 33-30.

The Broncos had possession with under two minutes left and a chance to get the go-ahead score, but the Beavers’ defense held strong for the win.

“It was an exciting game with some big momentum shifts,” said Beaver head coach Jonathan Marshall. “Both teams played very hard and made some big plays. Our defense was able to come up with a huge stop in the last two minutes to help us get the win. San Juan is a great team and I am really proud of our kids.”

Crimson Cliffs gets literal last-second win over Provo

Things did not look good for the Mustangs late in Friday’s game against the Bulldogs. After holding a 14-0 lead at halftime, Crimson Cliffs found itself down 24-20 with only seconds left in the game.

A last-ditch effort with one second remaining gave Crimson Cliffs a bounce-back win and evened its record to 1-1.

“It was a great game against a great Provo team,” said Crimson Cliffs head coach Wayne Alofipo. “The end of the game definitely had the flare for dramatics.”

After its halftime lead, Provo quickly got back into the game with back-to-back touchdowns, including an 80-yard touchdown pass from Crew DeMartini to Ronnie Wright, which evened the score 14-14.

Crimson Cliffs answered with a 53-yard touchdown run from Van Dailey, but disaster struck as a Provo field goal and a fumble led to a Provo touchdown with only a minute left.

The Mustangs had one last effort to regain the lead.

Crimson Cliffs took advantage of a couple PI calls against Provo, ran it down to the one-yard line and Alofipo took a timeout with just one second left.

On the final play of the game, Dailey ran it into the endzone again for the 27-24 win.

“They put one second on the clock and we ran the ball again and Van Dailey and our offensive line and our full back Kade Shaw led him into the end zone,” Alofipo said. “Great and tough game for both team. Hats off off to Provo. They are tough.”

Fremont upsets Davis on the road

A year ago, Davis was gearing up for a Region 1 title, going into week 7 with a 5-1 record. However, it was handed a narrow loss by Fremont in a close road game.

This year, Fremont moved to 5A’s Region 5 and the two schools scheduled a non-region game in week two. Davis is considered one of the top teams in 6A, particularly since it retained much of its lethal offense a year ago.

It didn’t look good for Fremont early on Friday as it trailed 21-0 near the end of the second quarter. However, the Silverwolves rallied for 20 second half points and earned a 35-34 road win over the Darts.

“Our conversation (at halftime) was ‘Who is tougher will be the victor,’” Fremont head coach Nate Tuatagaloa said. “We talked about breaking and at what point does the will to perform break. We told our team that we won’t know that today because we will not break. We will find out what is Davis’s breaking point.”

Fremont finally put up eight points late in the second quarter after a 54-yard pass from Manase Tuatagaloa to Slade Parker and a two-point conversion on a pass to five-star recruit Salesi Moa.

While Davis’ offense was hot in the first half, the second half was a different story. The Silverwolves’ defense held Davis to just one touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately for Fremont, Davis still held a 28-14 lead with only 3:30 remaining. In the remaining time, Tuatagaloa and Moa connected on two touchdown passes to push the game into overtime.

Davis got the ball first in the extra period and scored, but went for two and couldn’t convert. Fremont’s Cade Hadley answered with a two-yard touchdown run and Cam Graves kicked in the PAT for the 35-34 overtime win.

“Davis is a really good team with good coaches, so this was an important win for us,” said coach Tuatagaloa. “Sometimes you can use finesse to win. Tonight we will choose violence to win. Let’s go and take their soul and remind everyone watching who Fremont Silverwolves are. This is what the conversation was like. We knew what we had and had to refocus our boys towards the second half and learn from the first half. Our coaches do a really good job at giving these boys the calmness needed and the toughness required.”

Mountain Ridge breaks defensive stalemate, beats Lehi

In week one, Mountain Ridge suffered a 52-17 loss to Region 3’s Skyridge. The Sentinels understandably came into the season with high expectations as it returned 16 total starters from 2024.

While it wasn’t the prettiest offensive game, Mountain Ridge had a strong offensive stand against Lehi for a bounce-back 9-6 week 2 victory.

The Pioneers and the Sentinels each gave up just one touchdown in Friday’s game. Mountain Ridge was first to score, with a four-yard pass from Jaxon Hunt to Grayden Dumas, giving it a 6-0 lead after a failed PAT.

Just before the second half, Lehi took a 7-0 lead after a three-yard touchdown run from Briggs Love.

The low-scoring affair ended up working in Mountain Ridge’s favor, as a 38-yard field goal from Dumas in the fourth quarter sealed the win over a formidable Region 3 foe.

“I think Coach Peck and our defensive staff did a tremendous job this past week making the adjustments that were needed to be effective,” said Mountain Ridge head coach Nick Robins. “They put in a lot of work on that side of the ball, and it showed on Friday. As a whole team, I thought our kids battled through adversity. There were moments in the game where we could have folded and our kids didn’t quit.”

Davis evens its season record, 1-1, and is now preparing for another tough non-region matchup in week 3 against Davis.

Juab earns road win over 5A opponent

Juab‘s offense was blistering hot on Friday as it put up 38 points in the first half against Payson, and the Wasps clutched out the win despite being shut out in the second half.

Juab and Payson scored a combined 42 points in the first quarter as they tied 21-21, but Juab pulled ahead 38-21 with two more touchdowns and a field goal before halftime. Juab quickly got things started offensively with Payton Myers scoring on the opening kickoff with a 93-yard return.

Wasps’ quarterback Price Armstrong led the way with 314 passing yards with a .67 completion percentage and scoring three touchdowns. Jaden Heap was the top receiver for Armstrong as he pulled in 126 yards on four receptions, scoring two touchdowns.

Brock Richards led Juab’s attack on the ground with 248 rushing yards on 27 carries with one touchdown.

Payson’s Hogan Bates rushed for a touchdown in the third and David Fullmer received a 31-yard touchdown pass from Trevyn Wall in the fourth, but it wasn’t able to score again to take the win over Juab.

The Wasps improve to 2-0 on the year after the win. Juab beat Delta 40-0 in week one.