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SOUTH JORDAN — The Bingham Miners didn't throw a pass until nearly the end of the first quarter but dominated on the ground to beat Riverton 42-21 and to earn the Region 3 title.
Bingham received the opening kickoff and rattled off 12 straight run plays, and the offense drove down the field with ease and capped it off with a 3-yard touchdown run from junior running back Carson Sudbury, his first of four rushing touchdowns on the night.
Behind — or in front of — every great run game is a powerful offensive line; the Miners flexed their muscles all night and opened up huge holes and gave the backfield space to do just about whatever it wanted. Head coach Eric Jones said he was pleased with the way his offense played, particularly Sudbury and the big guys up front.
"They're starting to click right now, especially the offensive line doing such a great job opening up holes and pushing people around," Jones said. "Carson's an unbelievable talent. It's pretty cool that he's just a junior and the state's gonna have to deal with him for a couple more years."
Both teams enjoyed a heavy run game Friday night in the final game of the regular season. While the Silverwolves mixed in a few more passes than the Miners, the game was decided in the trenches, and Bingham's big boys proved too much for Riverton.
Early in the second quarter, the Miners faced a fourth down-and-1 from their own 42-yard line. Sudbury not only gained enough for the first down, he burst through the line practically untouched and took it to the house for a 58-yard touchdown.
"Great O-line," Sudbury said. "They came a long way. It's nice to see them working together to open up those holes and, yeah, I was there all day."
Riverton finally broke through against Bingham's defense near the end of the first half on third-and-10. Silverwolves quarterback Jake Meyers dropped back and connected with senior receiver Sam Woolley for a 41-yard touchdown, but Bingham answered back the following drive and finished with a 3-yard touchdown run by Dion Fue to take a 21-7 lead into halftime.
Bingham's run game is strong as they head into halftime leading Riverton 21-7, after this 3-yd TD run in the last minute of the half.
— Thomas Gordon (@Air_Gordon12) October 15, 2022
Silverwolves will receive the ball to start the 2nd half pic.twitter.com/HCAB6Xzos9
The two teams have a history of competitive games, and it showed multiple times throughout the game. The Miners drew two unsportsmanlike conduct calls for celebrations following touchdowns, and the Silverwolves earned one themselves for the same reason. Riverton owned a two-game winning streak over Bingham ahead of the game, and the Miners knew it.
"It's hard for me to speak to it being it's my first year here, so I don't understand the rivalry as well as the kids do," Jones said. "But I've been part of some rivalry games and I know it sucks when you're on a two-year losing streak, but it's nice to break that."
For Sudbury and his teammates, they'd been thinking about the game for a while.
"Our seniors before us were telling us today that we've got to show up for our team," Sudbury said. "And I don't know, just Miners always on top. (Riverton) never should have won those two games, but some teams just gotta have their moments."
The second half was a near copy of the first half, score-wise. Bingham stuck with the run game and scored three times — one by quarterback Dallen Martinez and two more from Sudbury. The only difference in the halves was that the Miners allowed a late score to Riverton — not that it made any difference in the outcome and feeling of who won this game.
With the regular season over, Bingham has all the momentum and is on a six-game winning streak. Meanwhile, Riverton was winners of three straight before Friday night's setback. As the teams gear up for the postseason, Jones said he feels good about his team but knows there's still work to be done.
"We definitely have some things to clean up," Jones said. "The penalties and we blew some coverages, and you can't do that in the playoffs and hope to advance. But I'm really happy for the kids, super proud of them for taking over the region title and doing what they needed to do. But we definitely have some things to work on going forward."
