Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
HIGHLAND — Sometimes it takes a lucky break — or two or three — to help win a football game.
Fortune seemed to favor Lone Peak as the No. 6 Knights were on the right end of a series of turnovers in the fourth quarter to pull out a 24-14 win over No. 8 Pleasant Grove to open region play Friday in Highland.
"We're struggling in the red zone right now," Lone Peak head coach Bart Brockbank said. "Till we figure that out, we're gonna have to continue to struggle out these wins."
It wasn't all a struggle for the Knights early in the game, though. Quarterback Kaden Hodson found Trey Robinson on a 63-yard strike just over a minute into the game, then launched an 81-yard touchdown pass to BYU baseball recruit Crew McChesney to give Lone Peak a 17-7 lead with 9:22 left in the first half.
A couple of unlucky breaks then struck the Knights before fortune began to turn. First, officials said Hodson double-clutched a ball spike at the end of the first half, taking the Knights off the field in the red zone. Then, Hodson had to leave the game during the third quarter with a lingering knee injury.
Backup Rome Engemann came in and was able to give the Knights some breathing room with a 24-7 lead to start the fourth quarter.
Lone Peak kept Pleasant Grove out of the end zone in the second and third quarters, but quarterback Nic Staffieri led the Vikings on a crucial scoring drive early in the final period to cut the deficit to 24-14 with 8:49 left in the game.
That is where the fun began — at least for the Knights.
Pleasant Grove got a third-down stop on the following drive but fumbled the punt recovery to hand the Knights the ball back with a double-digit lead and 6:34 remaining.
Sophomore Junior Tahi came in for the Knights on a fourth-and-short run and fumbled his way to a first down as the lucky breaks continued for the home team.
Pleasant Grove got the ball back on downs with 3:20 left, but the comeback window began to shrink. It wasn't in the cards for the Vikings as Ryder Christensen picked off Staffieri twice in the final 2:50 to seal the win for Lone Peak — its fourth in a row after a season-opening loss at Timpview.
The Knights continue region play on the road at American Fork next week, while Pleasant Grove travels to Westlake after picking up just its second loss of the season.
Photos
Most recent High School stories
Related topics
Caleb Turner
