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Show nSfcTHiifa , I 1 Brighton Bengals Send Pleasant Grove to State Football Playoffs V7 V1 k ' 1 - .... Quarterback Paul Hatch looks to deliver the pass downfield as Colton Babb Photo courtesy of PicMyKid.com by Kent Allen In late October, with the sun dancing around the swirling dark clouds and an occasional downdraft that chilled you to the bone, the Vikings had a 4 o'clock date with the Brighton Bengals to see who would go to the State Football Playoffs as the 4lh place finisher in Region 4. This game had to be played on a neutral field. The one chosen was at Alta High School. The last time the Vikings played there, they emerged as winners, beating the Alta Hawks 21-16 21-16 last week. Being able to build a strategy, doing so on your most recent success also creates confidence in yourself and your teammates to keep the momentum going. And go it did. The first quarter was filled with great plays of the defensive type, meaning, they moved back and forth on the field, staying pretty much in the middle ranges. Just before time ran out for the quarter, new running back Manase Ulukivalola took off right up the middle and was on his way to scoring, but Newbold caught up to him and stopped him before he could score. It was a great 65 yard run, but our defense stepped up again and bent but did not break. Pleasant Grove punted twice and had a pass picked off by Brighton. Brighton punted once, lost a fumble to PG and had the ball as time ran out. The second quarter had Brighton still holding the ball and four plays into the new quarter, they scored on a 10 yard pass from quarterback Derek Newell to wide receiver Uaea Masina. Aaron Stoddard put up the PAT and the score was 7-0 for Brighton. After being stopped on their next possession, PG gave the ball back to Brighton and kept them pinned back against their own end zone. Upon being sacked behind their scrimmage line, and looking at a 4th and 14, the punt team ran on the field to punt. Receiving the snap at about the five yard line, the kicker didn't see our senior defensive back Quinn Newbold coming from the right side. Newbold blocked the kick, picked the ball up at about the two yard line and trotted into the end zone for the first touch down of the game for the Vikings. Winston Sorhaitz kicked the PAT and the score was tied at 7-7 midway through the second quarter. Newbold and Sorhaitz will be missed next year as they are both seniors and will be moving on. Just before the half, Brighton's kicker Aaron Stoddard kicked a 20 yard field goal and as the teams ran off the field. Brighton was in front with a score of 10-7. The third quarter was a repeat of the first quarter as both defenses played very well and kept the opposition's offense out of the end zone. PG punted once and had a pass picked off. Brighton punted twice and lost a fumble to PG. On Brighton's . first play of their second possession, PG's junior defensive back Parker Johnson picked off their pass and returned it to the 18 yard line of Brighton. Seven running plays, one quarterback sack and an offside flag against PG, sophomore running back Colton Babb scored on a one yard plunge to put the Vikings ahead since being tied in the second quarter. Mr. Sorhaitz kicked another PAT and PG was leading with five minutes to play, by a score cf 14-10. Brighton got the ball back and did an admirable job of passing and dropping the ball, but with 3:29 remaining, PG had possession of the ball and 1, took their time, using every second they could to run a play and 2, provided excellent ball security (they held on to the ball) during the plays. They got a first down on the three yard line, with less than a minute to play, took two knees in a row and ran out the last few seconds on the clock. Pleasant Grove punted seven times, but three of those punts netted at least 50 yards each. That helped put the Bengals back against their goal line and kept them from attaining a favorable field position during possible turning points of the game. Brighton had 25 carries for 98 yards, with one of them being the 65 yard run by Mr. Ulukivalola in the first half, and 14 of 32 passes for 169 yards totaling 267 total yards. They had 203 yards during the first two quarters, which goes to show how tough the Viking defense became in the second half. The Vikings had 38 rushes for 141 yards and only 2 of 15 passing for 40 yards for a total of 181 yards of offense. It goes to show that it takes a complete team to win a game, and everyone has to contribute. And in this game, as well as the one before, everyone stepped up their efforts and whole team received the benefit. The Vikings then advanced to play Fremont High School, the number one seed in Region 1. They played at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 30. |
