The Bountiful Redhawks are inching closer to a Region 5 football title, but Woods Cross is right on their heels. 

Bountiful is 4-0 in league play and 6-2 overall. The Wildcats, meanwhile, sit at 3-1 in Region 5 and 5-3 overall. Up in Region 1, both Farmington and Davis are just a game behind the league-leading Syracuse Titans with records of 3-1 each. 

Bountiful

The Redhawks can clinch the region championship by defeating Northridge this Friday in the regular season finale. Last week, Bountiful beat Viewmont 17-7 in the latest low-scoring game of the year for the Redhawks. Bountiful is giving up just 10 points per game in league play. 

In the victory over the Vikings, Bountiful had just three points through three quarters and trailed 7-3. But the offense woke up over the final 12 minutes to storm back for the win. With just under seven minutes to play, Brigham Morrison scored on a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 10-7. Then, as Viewmont was trying to drive for the game-winning score, Ford Creswell picked off a pass and returned it 19 yards for the TD. 

There wasn’t a lot of offense in this slugfest. Owen Geilman went 11 of 22 passing for 106 yards, while Kenobi Doctolero had 11 carries for 46 yards. Faletau Satuala was the leading receiver for the Redhawks with four grabs for 67 yards. Jacob Brooks had six tackles and an interception.

For Viewmont, Landon Jeppeson had an 80-yard touchdown reception from Luke Jacobs in the third quarter to give the Vikings a 7-3 lead. Jacobs had 147 yards passing on 12 completions. Kingston Mickens had seven catches on the night. Mickens also had an interception, while Degan LeRoy was the leading tackler with 11. 

Viewmont is now 1-3 in Region 5 and 4-4 overall. The Vikings end the regular season on Friday with a game at Woods Cross.

Woods Cross

As for the Wildcats, they head into the contest with Viewmont with a chance to tie for the region title. But they have to defeat the Vikings and hope that Bountiful falls to Northridge on Friday. 

Last week, the Wildcats outlasted Box Elder 35-21 on the road. The Wildcats opened the scoring on a 5-yard reception by Josh Bennion from Bradley Bailey halfway through the first quarter. The extra point was missed, leaving the lead at 6-0. Box Elder took the lead with back-to-back touchdowns to make it 14-6 halfway through the second. However, the Wildcats scored two quick touchdowns to take the halftime lead. First, Cash Henderson had a 3-yard touchdown run. Viewmont had a successful two-point try to tie the score. Then, with 2:41 to play in the half, Jacob Howes had a 3-yard TD pass from Bailey. 

Up 21-14 at the break, Woods Cross didn’t score in the third quarter. But the Wildcats put a pair of touchdowns on the board in the fourth quarter to seal the win. Bailey hit Ryan Moss for a 5-yard touchdown pass with eight minutes to play. Then, Kelvan Malepeai scored on a 3-yard run with 1:39 left to make the score 35-14. Box Elder added a touchdown in the final 34 seconds to make things closer. 

Howes finished with 91 yards rushing on just eight carries, while Malepeai added 65 yards on 18 attempts. Three of Bailey’s five completions went for touchdowns. In addition to his touchdown grab, Bennion had an interception and seven tackles. 

Farmington and Davis

The Region 1 race is still in question, with the Phoenix and Darts hoping for wins and a Syracuse loss this week. Farmington hosts Fremont on Thursday and then has a huge clash with Syracuse on Wednesday, Oct. 12. Davis plays at Weber on Thursday and hosts Clearfield for the regular season finale on Oct. 12. 

Last week, Farmington and Davis met for a key Region 1 showdown. The big matchup didn’t disappoint.

Davis prevailed 17-14 in a contest that went right down to the wire. The loss knocked Farmington out of a tie for first place in Region 1. 

Dayton Runyan gave Farmington an early 7-0 lead when he caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Easton Wight. But Davis’ Josh Barker’s 6-yard TD run with 2:26 left in the first half knotted things up at 7-apiece. Wight then scored from a yard out to put the Phoenix back on top 14-7 with 8:08 left in the third quarter. That advantage stood until Barker had a 2-yard run into the end zone with 8:33 left in the game. Gage Butler’s extra point made the score 14-14. But Butler’s biggest moment came in the final minute and a half when he had the game-winning points on a 30-yard field goal to put his team up 17-14. 

Davis got 66 yards on 18 carries from Barker, while Travis Hoopes led Farmington with 59 yards on the ground on 14 carries. Both teams fared better in the passing department. Jackson Stevens was 23 of 39 for 243 yards for Davis, though he did throw two interceptions. For Farmington, Wight was 24 of 32 for 233 yards. Davis’ Easton Baggett led his team with 10 catches for 92 yards, while Farmington’s Zach Quinton also had 10 grabs. He totaled 73 yards on his receptions. 

Defensively, Palmer Gardiner was a monster for the Darts. He had 10 tackles and three sacks. Jacob Faerber and Carter Dorius had interceptions for Davis. Parke Blaser had six tackles for the Phoenix, while Kainoa Jones and Runyan had interceptions. λ