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- Mountain Ridge Sentinels defeated Westlake 35-28 to clinch the Region 2 title.
- Junior quarterback Jaxon Hunt led Mountain Ridge with key plays and touchdowns.
- Zach Ofisa's late touchdown secured the win; Sentinels finished with a 6-0 region record.
HERRIMAN — The Mountain Ridge Sentinels closed out senior night in fitting fashion Friday.
It was the kind of game you'd imagine on paper: two 7-2 clubs, both riding hot streaks, superstars, and both desperate to take command of the region heading into the state tournament. But by the closing whistle, it was Mountain Ridge in a 35-28 win.
From the opening snap, Mountain Ridge made things clear. With 9:23 left in the first, the Sentinels uncorked their first of many bullets in the night: junior quarterback Jaxon Hunt connected on a 31-yard touchdown strike to Grayden Dumas, who cut through the middle of the defense for the score. And just like that it was 7-0, and the game was on.
Hunt — still only a junior — has long been a name to watch in Utah. But on Friday, he looked like the very definition of control.
Westlake answered right back when Slone Su'a hauled in a contested touchdown pass to knot the game at 7-7.
But Mountain Ridge wasn't about to let Westlake take control. With just 23 seconds left in the first quarter, Dumas, again, found daylight in the backfield and scored another touchdown to reclaim the lead.
The second quarter brought more of the same. Mountain Ridge's attempt at a field goal early in the half went left, giving Westlake the ball back and some momentum. Westlake, meanwhile, leaned heavily on Boston Fountaine.
At halftime, Westlake struck again — capitalizing on an unsportsmanlike penalty against Mountain Ridge to set up a short field. Fountaine took matters into his own hands, running it in himself to tie the game going into the locker room.
Westlake opened up the scoring in the second half with 8:06 remaining in the third when Kyle Pierce grabbed a Fountaine pass for the go-ahead touchdown, putting Westlake up 28-21 — the team's first lead of the night.
That lead was short-lived, however, as Hunt responded by threading a pass to Koen Cunningham, who jogged into the end zone to tie the game up again.
Just before the quarter ended, a 41-yard field goal attempt by Mountain Ridge was stopped as several Westlake defenders broke through and blocked the kick, giving Westlake hope going into the final stretch.
With 2:12 left in the game, Zach Ofisa, took the handoff and bulldozed into the end zone for his second rushing touchdown of the night, giving the Sentinels a 35-28 edge, in what proved to be the game-winner.
Westlake had a promising drive in an attempt to equalize, but with 24 seconds remaining, a forced turnover sealed the deal. Brown's night had already seen two sacks and a key deflection.
With the win, the Sentinels locked in a 6-0 region mark to take home the Region 2 title.
