Region 5 games began last week on the football field, and a pair of Davis County teams had an exciting matchup. 

Bountiful and Viewmont met up to open league play. The Redhawks were coming off a close loss to Olympus, while Viewmont had blown out Taylorsville the week before. This game between the county rivals went down to the wire with Bountiful ultimately winning 28-27. 

The way things started, it looked as though the Vikings wouldn’t score. 

Bountiful was up 12-0 late in the second quarter after wide receiver Faletau Satuala threw a touchdown pass on a trick play to Blake Moore from 23 yards away. This followed a pair of first-quarter field goals from Landon Zayas from 37 and 43 yards out. 

Then it was Viewmont’s turn. 

The Vikings went on a 21-3 run in the second, third and fourth quarters to go up 21-15 with 9:45 to play in the game. Dax Nielsen first had a 3-yard run with 25 seconds left before halftime. Daren Tovey next had a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Jones halfway through the third quarter. After Zayas hit his third field goal of the day for Bountiful – this time from 35 yards – Nielsen had a 5-yard touchdown run. 

The fourth quarter was wild. 

Emmerson Geilman scored on a 6-yard run for the Redhawks to put his team up 22-21 with 7:52 left in the game. Tovey then responded for Viewmont by connecting with Drez Jensen on a 23-yard TD pass with 5:33 to play. Up 27-22, Viewmont elected to go for two and go up by seven points. The conversion failed, however. Just a minute and a half later, Geilman threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Satuala, making it 28-27 for the Redhawks. The two-point conversion failed. 

Viewmont was unable to kick the winning field goal, leaving the Vikings with the loss and a 2-2 record. Bountiful is also 2-2 overall and 1-0 in Region 5. 

Bountiful’s Sikai Fekitoa led all players with 107 rushing yards on 10 carries. Geilman threw for 133 yards on 11 of 18 passes. Satuala was his favorite target. He had four catches for 74 yards. Evan DeHart was a monster on defense for the Redhawks. The senior had 14 tackles and two sacks. Aisake Willis had eight tackles and a sack. For Viewmont, Dax Nielsen toted the ball 23 times for 82 yards and two scores. Tovey had a good game, compiling 248 yards on 23 of 32 passes. Jensen had seven catches for 11 yards. Landon Sharp had eight tackles and a sack. Austin Nebeker and Tovey had seven tackles apiece. 

Bountiful hosts Bonneville this Friday. Meanwhile, Viewmont travels to Northridge this Friday. 

Woods Cross

Woods Cross is also 2-2 on the season, though the Wildcats opened Region 5 with a loss. Last Friday, Woods Cross had a wild game at Bonneville where 97 points were scored. The Wildcats were on the short end of an offensive showcase, calling 54-43. 

Woods Cross fell behind 20-7 in the first quarter, with Vili Tapa’atoutai scoring from 2 yards out on the ground for the Wildcats’ only score of the quarter. The Wildcats had two touchdowns in the second quarter to one for the Lakers. Lock Smoot hit Krew Fornelius on a 51-yard touchdown pass, and Cash Henderson scored from a yard out with just four seconds to play in the first half to make it 27-21 Bonneville. Tapa’atoutai then had a 12-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter, giving the Wildcats a narrow 28-27 lead. 

Then, 42 points came in the final quarter. 

Bonneville scored 13 quick points, followed by a 15-yard pass from Smoot to Reece Hammond with 5:37 left in the game. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Bonneville returning the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a score to make it 47-35. Bonneville then got a defensive touchdown to put the game away with just over a minute to go. In the final seconds, Smoot had a 35-yard TD run, and Woods Cross got the two-point conversion. 

In a stat-filled game, Woods Cross had 249 yards rushing, including 73 from Smoot on 14 carries and 54 from Ben Smith-Mecham on eight carries. Smoot also had 146 yards passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions on 10 of 22 passing. Henderson had six tackles and a sack on defense. 

The Wildcats can get back in the winning column this Friday when they host struggling Clearfield.