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BOUNTIFUL — Bonneville wasn't afraid to take the fight to No. 20 Viewmont Friday in the start of Region 5 play in front of the Vikings' home crowd in Bountiful.
The Lakers faked a punt that was picked off and returned for a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, which created an uphill climb from the start.
Bonneville's defense and mobile quarterback kept the visitors in the game, however, and the aggression and perseverance paid off with a 21-7 second-half run en route to a 24-21 win.
"We kind of regrouped at halftime, got the kids refocused on just taking care of the little things," Bonneville head coach Jantz Afuvai said after his team trailed 14-3 at the break. "And they responded well, so I'm really happy because of how young they are, to be able to respond like that."
Before that, though, it was all Viewmont in the first half. Sophomore Kingston Mickens had a pick six on the opening drive of the game, and quarterback Luke Jacobs found 6-foot-6 wide receiver Mitch Jeppesen for an 80-yard touchdown pass to go up 14-0 with 9:45 left in the second quarter.
The Jeppesen touchdown came just seconds after a missed field goal from Bonneville — the senior shook his defender and had nothing but green grass in front of him.
Bonneville had a chance to score its first touchdown at the end of the first half when quarterback Jaxon Johnson found Hunter Davis just short of the goal line, but a bad snap forced the Lakers to settle for a field goal.
It looked like Viewmont would march it down the field and widen its lead to start the second half, but the Bonneville defense had other plans. The Lakers brought the pressure on Jacobs in the backfield and got a 9-yard tackle for loss to force a punt.
"He's a hell of a quarterback, so we knew we had our work cut out for us," Afuvai said of Jacobs. "The whole game plan was to try to get some pads on him, and I thought our defense did really well."
Luckily for the Lakers, Bonneville had a good quarterback of its own. The junior found Davis again on a 40-yard toss midway through the third quarter, and then Johnson kept it himself to get the Lakers' first touchdown of the game to narrow the deficit to 14-9 after a blocked extra point with 5:36 left in the third.
"When it's a close game like that, we want to put it in his hands," Afuvai said of his quarterback. "He makes good decisions. So, put it in the hands of the best decision guy."
The defense got its first turnover of the game on the following Viewmont drive with a pick on Jacobs; and a jet sweep from Maximus Diaz got the Lakers another touchdown on the very next play. A successful 2-point conversion put Bonneville up 17-14 at the end of the third quarter.
Not to be outdone, Jacobs came back after a shaky third quarter and found Jeppesen on back-to-back 20-yard gains to get back into the end zone and give the home team a 21-17 lead with 8:58 left in the game.
Bonneville, once again, put the ball in Johnson's hands, and he delivered. The quarterback strung together a pair of huge runs to get his team back to the goal line, where the Lakers pounded the ball in for the eventual game-winning score.
Viewmont got the ball back with 2:55 to go, and Jacobs was able to find Scott Noel in the end zone in the final minute, but the receiver was unable to bring down the game-winning score.
Scott Noel drops a potential game-winning pass for Viewmont. Bonneville wins the Region 5 opener 24-21. pic.twitter.com/Yktmy7pq9y
— Caleb Turner (@calebturner23) September 10, 2022
Bonneville returns home to take on Bountiful next week, while Viewmont heads north to Brigham City to face Box Elder as 5A Region 5 play continues.
