High school football: 5 intriguing flashback results from Week 5

Week 5 provided a mix of in-region matchups and the ending of preseason schedules. Here are some interesting results from Week 5:
Crimson Cliffs started its season with a 1-2 start after a tough nonregion schedule with road games against Morgan and Springville, and a home game against Bingham. The Mustangs were rewarded with back-to-back Region 9 wins, including a 28-17 win over Desert Hills on Friday.
“It’s been great to see our new group of 19 starters and new backups stay the course despite a tough start to the season,” said Crimson Cliffs head coach Wayne Alofipo. “They continue to believe in the culture, the system, and each other and keep trusting in what we do.”
Despite being the first to score on a touchdown run from McCord Christiansen, Crimson Cliffs was unable to break away from the Thunder in the first half. Desert Hills scored two touchdowns in the second quarter to keep pace with the Mustangs for a 14-14 tie.
A 31-yard field goal early in the third quarter from Hayden Porter briefly put Desert Hills in a 17-14 lead. However, the Mustangs’ defense did not allow the Thunder to score again.
Christiansen once again broke through for Crimson Cliffs with a 14-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter for the slim lead, which was later pushed to a 28-17 lead after a touchdown pass from Malakai Alofipo to Ryder Sherratt.
The win pushed Crimson Cliffs to the top spot in Region 9 with a 2-0 region record, marking the third win in a row over the Thunder. Crimson Cliffs and Desert Hills currently sit 4-4 in the all-time matchup record.
“It’s been good to see them settle in and start region of right,” Alofipo said. “We are not where we want to be but we are headed in the right direction.”
Weber County welcomed the brand-new West Field High School this year, where the Longhorns fielded a football team in their inaugural season and joined Region 11. Head coach Eric Jones spent the last two seasons as head coach of Bingham before making the move to West Field.
The Longhorns struggled to find their footing in their opening weeks with a 0-4 start to the season. West Field finally got its first-ever win in program history with a 27-14 home win against Region 11 foe Logan.
“I’m just really proud of the players for their hard work and resiliency over the past six months to get themselves into a position to earn a victory. It’s hard to win football games even without all the hurdles we’ve dealt with getting our program started,” said West Field coach Eric Jones. “I’m incredibly thankful and indebted to our assistant coaches, families, managers, parents, administration, secretaries and community for their tremendous support in getting Longhorn Football started.”
West Field wasted no time putting points on the board, and once it did, it never trailed to the Grizzlies. Hinckley Keele was the first to strike for the Longhorns with a touchdown run only three minutes into the game.
Keele then threw a touchdown pass to Phoenix Sandoval late in the first quarter for a quick 14-0 Longhorn lead. West Field led by as much as 20-0 in the first half, until Logan finally got in the end zone behind a 72-yard pass from Easton Favero to Skyler Jenson. The Grizzlies also succeeded on its two-point conversion for a 20-8 halftime lead.
Once again, West Field rushed to score and quickly put Logan away with a 27-8 lead with a touchdown run from Cash Colohan. Logan scored once more late in the third quarter with a run from Kedin Avila, but the Longhorn defense held Logan scoreless for the remainder of the game.
“That first win will be a special memory for everyone involved. There’s a lot more work to do and a ton of room for growth. We’re excited for the challenges ahead & grateful for the opportunity to compete,” said Jones.
It was a bounce-back win for West Field after losing 35-0 in Week 4 to Green Canyon. The Longhorns now sit 1-1 in Region 11 and 1-4 overall.
Richfield is the only team in the entire state with a longer win streak than Beaver, who has won 14 consecutive games after Friday’s 28-7 win over Millard. The win ends the Beavers’ nonregion schedule with a 5-0 record.
“Our young men have worked really hard and had a great start to the season,” said Beaver head coach Jonathan Marshall. “We have played some very good teams that hopefully have tested us for the tough games we have ahead of us.”
It took a while for the Beaver offense to get started on Friday as neither team found a score in the opening quarter. A 12-yard touchdown run in the second quarter from Davin Orton put Beaver ahead 6-0. The Beavers quickly lost the lead with Millard’s Kaden Turner running into the end zone for a 7-6 score.
Beaver made sure that was the only time Millard held the lead.
Beaver scored twice more before the end of the half with another touchdown run from Orton and a run from Bodie Wheatley. The Beaver defense also got in on the offensive action, scoring two points on a safety with 23 seconds remaining in the half for a 21-7 halftime lead.
The Beavers’ defense didn’t let up in the second half and completely shut down the Millard offense. Beaver’s Deegan Blackner pushed in one more touchdown late in the fourth quarter for the 28-7 win.
“We had a hard-fought, physical game with Millard,” said Marshall. “They are always tough at their place and we had to battle to get the win. Despite a good start to the season, we know we have a lot of areas we have to get better in.”
Beaver will start in-region play in Week 6 as it will host the Kanab Cowboys.
In Week 5, Timpanogos started in-region play on the road against Uintah, which the Timberwolves passed with flying colors in a convincing 49-21 win over the Utes. Timpanogos wanted to start region play with a win after it was voted to finish sixth in this year’s Region 8 coaches poll, a result which Timpanogos head coach Austin Heaps resented.
“We were looking for a strong start to Region play,” Heaps said. “We started the week by hanging up ‘motivational posters’ of how the other region coaches ranked us coming into the season and had shirts made for coaches to wear. We believe it had the effect we were looking for because by the time the game kicked off we had a team out looking for blood.”
The strategy seemed to work as Timpanogos jumped to a 14-6 lead in the first quarter. The Timberwolves’ Andrew Hillstead was a headache for the Uintah defense as he recorded four passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns on Friday.
Hillstead opened the second quarter with a 37-yard touchdown pass to Gabriel Graf and ended the quarter with a touchdown pass to Dash McCann as time ran out for a 28-13 halftime score.
Timpanogos’ offense did not slow down in the third quarter as it racked up three quick touchdowns. Hillstead contributed to all three with one rushing and two passing to each of Graf and McCann.
Uintah managed to score only once in the second half on a run from Dace O’Bagy, but Timpanogos held the Utes scoreless in the fourth to shut down any hopes of a comeback.
The Timberwolves opened Region 8 play with a 1-0 record and hope to push that to 2-0 next week as it hosts Provo.
Few teams had tougher preseason schedules than Farmington as it faced Roy, Bountiful, Orem and Corner Canyon in its first four weeks. All four teams only have two combined losses between them after Week 5.
Farmington finally got a win with a 17-3 home victory in its first-ever matchup with Mountain Ridge. It was a crucial win for the Phoenix, who start region play next week.
“I’m excited that the boys got a reward for all the hard work that they have been putting in. We teach them that if they keep swinging the hammer sooner or later they will hit gold,” said Farmington coach Daniel Coats.
It wasn’t until midway through the second quarter that the 0-0 tie was broken as Farmington’s Will Peterson connected with Lucas Peterson for a 7-0 lead. The Phoenix’s defense also came to play, holding the Sentinels to a single-field goal for the entire game.
Farmington held its slim 7-3 lead throughout the third quarter but pulled away with a 32-yard field goal from Jaxon Beynon. The Phoenix scored once again in the final minute of the game with a 67-yard run from Lucas Peterson for the 17-3 win.
It was an encouraging win for the defense after holding the Sentinels to only three points after giving up an average of 30.25 points per game in the first four weeks. However, the Phoenix’s offense will be challenged as it moves into region play.
Farmington’s offense has generated the third-fewest points in all of 6A; only Bingham and Westlake have scored less. It’s a trend the Phoenix hopes to break moving into Week 6 as it goes on the road against Region 1 foe Syracuse.