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SALT LAKE CITY — If the Highland football team was looking for a spark to push it past Wasatch in Friday afternoon’s first round of the Class 5A high school football playoffs, it had options with eight ball carriers in an option-heavy offense.
But it didn’t have to look any farther than its own special teams — and a 5-foot-9 sophomore who opened his playoff slate Friday night.
Ousmane Doumbia ran for a touchdown, scored on a 96-yard kick return, and recovered a key onside kick as the Rams rolled to a 61-24 win over the Wasps to advance to the Class 5A state quarterfinals.
“This is a special win,” said Doumbia, who accounted for 43 yards of offense. “I love it, just getting it done for our seniors and making sure we are never done.
“The W is nice.”
Cole Peterson completed 8-of-12 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for 86 yards and two scores to lead the Rams (7-3), who advanced to face unbeaten Corner Canyon in next week’s 5A quarterfinal.
Jackson Hawes caught three passes for 68 yards and a touchdown, and Trayton Keyes added a 76-yard TD grab for Highland, which ran up 490 yards of offense.
But strangely enough, Wasatch (5-5) struck first. Quarterback Brock Cloward led his team 80 yards on an efficient opening drive, and the Wasps took a 7-0 lead on his 10-yard touchdown pass to Daymon Vargas.
But the Rams answered right back, scoring on Siope Tenifa’s 4-yard plunge to set up what looked to be a shootout.
The Ram defense held the Wasps to just a field goal on its next four drives, going on a 27-3 run to take control on Peterson‘s 76-yard strike to Trayton Keyes to go up 34-10 with 57 seconds left in the half.
And it all began when the Rams called an audible for an onside kick, and Doumbia used every inch of his frame to recover the boot that turned into Peterson’s 4-yard touchdown run with 2:53 left in the first half.
“That’s stuff that we work all week,” Benson said. “Watching film, we knew they could give us that and we could call it from the side. My guys did a great job, first of not giving it away, but also being dialed in and picking up on the call from the side.”
Wasatch pulled within 34-17 with five seconds left in the first half. But just as the Wasps grabbed a little bit of halftime momentum, Doumbia returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards with no time on the clock and the Rams took a 40-17 advantage into the break.
“Coach Benson always preaches that special teams will be the winner of a game,” Doumbia said. “We just get out there and perform to get the W.”
Seeing his young sophomore streak down the sideline to help put the game out of reach on special teams was special for Benson, though.
“He just found another gear,” Benson said. “That was awesome.
“He’s starting to come into his own. He’s a phenomenal athlete, but you sometimes forget that he’s just a sophomore. It’s nice that he’s peaking at the right time this year.”
Doumbia capped Highland’s first drive of the second half with a 32-yard touchdown with 10:52 left on the clock, and the Rams’ defense held Wasatch to one touchdown the rest of the game.
Highland scored on every offensive possession until the final drive of the fourth quarter when it missed a long field goal.
The Rams held Wasatch to just 46 yards on the ground.
“We did a good job up front of controlling the ball,” Benson said. “I thought we did a good job as coaches, our quarterback, and taking what they were giving us. It was a great game plan coming into this game.”
Cloward completed 29-of-49 passes for 340 yards with two touchdowns, but also threw interceptions to Highland’s Matthew Lloyd and Richard Tialevea.
For complete results of Friday's playoff games, visit the prep scoreboard.
