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WEST VALLEY CITY — West Jordan survived a wet and chilly night at Hunter Thursday.
The Jaguars jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the second quarter but had to sweat out a furious comeback attempt by the Wolverines.
It wasn't until Hunter quarterback Uluaki Taukiuvea's fourth down toss was picked off by West Jordan with just over a minute left that the Jaguars could finally breathe a sweet sigh of relief. West Jordan held on for a 28-20 win over its Region 4 rivals.
Sometimes how you start is more important than how you finish.
West Jordan senior quarterback Jackson Roybal threw three touchdowns in the opening half, all of which were from over 30 yards. His third one — a 32-yard connection to Dominic Overby — gave West Jordan (3-4, 1-1 Region 4) a four-touchdown lead with 5:58 left in the first half. At that point, it looked like a fourth quarter running clock was in the game's future.
"Our offense started on fire," West Jordan coach Ron Halbert said.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars defense picked off Hunter (4-2, 1-1) on the first play from scrimmage, which set up a short field that led to a rushing score by Opeti Maka and stopped Hunter on two fourth down from inside the 10.
Everything was coming up West Jordan.
"I'm glad our kids came out ready to go," Halbert said. "We started off really good, right? I mean, 28-0, and then I don't know what happened."
But Kenyon Paea happened.
Hunter's senior running back found hole after hole late in the second quarter, and led the Wolverines on a drive that ended with a 1-yard score from Viliami Kioa on the last play of the first half.
It was renewed hope on the home sideline. And when Taukiuvea found Justin Moyes for a 27-yard touchdown to start off the second half to cut the lead to 28-14, it was game on. It was even more so when Paea broke free for an 18-yard scoring run on the first play of the fourth quarter.
The score brought the once massive lead down to just one possession. Fortunately for West Jordan, its defense held — twice.
"I thought that we played well, we've just got to stop the run a little better," Halbert said.
They found a way to do that late. Hunter got two cracks for a game-tying drive, but one ended in a punt and the other on the game-sealing interception.
In the end, it wasn't the prettiest of victories, but it counts the same in the standings — and it helped teach the Jaguars how to win a different way. Though, they probably don't want to have to use that same script again
"It's very important," Halbert said. "We lost a close one to Davis where we lost in overtime on a 2-point play we dropped. We came back and beat and bear Orem in a close game. So these games here help us for the future."
