- Lone Peak's Cruz Christensen led his team to a 42-21 victory.
- Christensen threw for four touchdowns and ran for another in the win.
- Lone Peak's defense intercepted Corner Canyon four times to secure the upset.
HIGHLAND — Cruz Christensen had the swagger of a quarterback with three times as many starts as he did before Lone Peak faced top-ranked Corner Canyon on Friday night.
Nobody would blame him by the end of the night.
Christensen threw for 243 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another score, and Lone Peak picked off top-ranked Corner Canyon four times to hand the Chargers their first loss of the year 42-21 in a Region 3 opener for both teams.
Not bad for a backup quarterback, eh?
"Cruzy really stepped up today," teammate Jaron Pula said of the usual backup to injured starter Kepa Niumeitolu. "We worked all practice with him, and hes stepped up to really win the game for us."
To be fair, Christensen had some help.
Pula hauled in nine catches for 162 yards and three touchdowns for the Knights (5-1, 1-0 Region 3), and twin brother and fellow Utah commit Kennan added another touchdown for Lone Peak.
But there's no question Christensen played his best game of the year in his third start.
"I thought he was great tonight," Lone Peak coach Bart Brockbank said. "He was poised, and he did really well managing the team.
"Cruz would be starting at lots of other schools," he added. "It's just unfortunate at some schools you don't get to start until you're a senior. But I couldn't ask for anything more from him."
Cruz and the Pula twins got plenty of help — most notably from a defense that harassed Corner Canyon quarterback Helaman Casuga and pulled down interceptions from Toa Tanuvasa (twice), Tevita Mounga and Anthon Grimmer.
"We were very dialed in," Tanuvasa said of the defense. "Coach Denney got us right, our coaches got us right for the game, and we were prepared."
The Pulas did all their scoring in the first half, including the hat trick from Jaron Pula and an 18-yard strike from Christensen to Kennan Pula with 21 seconds left to give Lone Peak a 28-21 halftime advantage.
The defense did the rest, shutting out the Chargers (5-1, 0-1 Region 3) in the third quarter with two tackles for loss and an interception.
But Lone Peak did its best damage when it took over at the 35-yard line with 4:24 remaining in the third.
The Knights went on what must've felt like an interminable drive — almost certainly on the Corner Canyon sideline — with a 17-play drive over 7:51 that spanned both quarters, and finished with Sean Tahi's 3-yard touchdown dive with 5:29 remaining to go up, 35-21.
"We'd like a 6-8 minute drive like that. Coach (Gary Trowbridge, offensive coordinator) does such a good job because he's so patient ... he'd love a 25-play drive that eats up a whole quarter. And our O-line and running backs buy into it; we've got a triple-headed monster at running back that does really well."
Grimmer picked off Casuga just six seconds later, and Lone Peak again bled the clock down to the final 56.1 seconds before Christensen found the end zone on a 3-yard touchdown scamper to ice the game for good.
All that was left was Tanuvasa's second pick, which he wisely knelt to close out the final few seconds to give Lone Peak its biggest win of the year.
"This is an awesome feeling," Tanuvasa said. "We'll see them again, though. It's a great rivalry, and it's always great to beat them."
Casuga threw for 216 yards, including touchdowns of 2 and 15 yards to Jaden Allen and Kai Meza, respectively.
Weston Briggs ran for 120 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown with 4:52 left in the second quarter that tied the game at 21-all.
Corner Canyon hosts Skyridge next Friday in the Region 3 home opener, while Lone Peak makes the short trip to American Fork.
