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ST. GEORGE — After a home win last week, the Mountain Ridge Sentinels carried that momentum into the second game of the season.
The Sentinels held a lead over the Dixie Flyers for a majority of the game in the team's first road contest of the season, and eventually pulled away for a 26-21 win over Dixie on their home field Friday night.
Semisi Kinikini opened up the scoring with his second touchdown of the season for Mountain Ridge just minutes into the game; and two minutes of game time later, sophomore quarterback Wyatt Bingham connected with Kai Meza to put Mountain Ridge up 14-0 before the Flyers could even catch their breath.
But Dixie refused to have a scoreless quarter, and Ran Sawyer managed to find his way into the end zone with less than a minute left in the first quarter for the team's first score of the night.
The Dixie defense then held Mountain Ridge scoreless for 11 straight minutes, which included a forced turnovers on downs and a pick six off a pass from Bingham into the arms of Kaeson Grover. The drought didn't last, though, and with less than a minute left in the half, Bingham connected with Braden Anderson for another touchdown pass.
Brody Laga, the Sentinels' kicker, had his third PAT attempt of the game blocked by the Flyers' defense, though, which left the score 20-14 at the halftime break.
Out of the halftime break, neither team managed a score in the third quarter, but Dixie quarterback Wyatt Truman connected with Junior Coughlin for the quarterback's first touchdown pass of the season. And just like that, the Flyers controlled a 1-point lead with just over eight minutes left in the game.
Mountain Ridge's Brody Robins shifted the momentum into the road team's favor late in the fourth quarter when he picked off a pass that turned into a costly turnover for Dixie. Just 20 seconds later, Jesus Hernandez became the fourth Sentinel player to score a touchdown in the game.
Mountain Ridge failed to convert on a 2-point try attempt, but managed to hold a lead it never again conceded.
"We practice these situations all the time," Sentinels' head coach Mike Meifu said of the 1-point scare. "We have a lot of faith in our team. If we execute the way we're capable of, we're a really good football team."
For the second week in a row, Bingham threw three touchdowns in a game for only his second varsity start of his career. It's a strong start to a potentially promising career for the quarterback.
"It's been stressful, but I enjoy it," Bingham said. "I lead the team the best I can and just try to drive down the field."
