5A football semifinals: Orem stuffs top-seeded West for shot at first title since 2020

SALT LAKE CITY — West entered Thursday's 5A state semifinals with the No. 1 seed in the bracket, an eye-popping 52.5 points-per-game average, and a nearly unblemished 11-1 record

And the Panthers' opponent took that, well, rather personally.

Tayden Kaawa threw for 132 yards and two touchdowns, and Orem held West to 2.3 yards per play and a shutout through nearly three quarters en route to a 34-7 win over the Panthers in Thursday's 5A state semifinals at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

BYU commit Kaue Akana caught five passes for 105 yards for the fourth-seeded Tigers (11-2), who advanced to the championship game for the first time since winning it all in 2020. Fellow Cougars commit Juni Moala had eight tackles including 2.5 of Orem's 15 tackles for loss (eight sacks), and Easton Kojima had eight tackles and a fumble recovery for the Tigers.

"Our mentality was just that we felt like we deserved the one-seed," said Moala, who also caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Kaawa to open the third quarter. "We wanted to come out and prove to the rest of the state that we deserved that."

Led by seven tackles that included 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack in the first half, the Tigers' defense stifled West en route to a 20-0 halftime score. The Panthers totaled just 45 yards of offense with sacks before the break, including 50 net yards from standout running back Louie Hamilton.

The do-it-all slot back with 1,941 yards and 32 touchdowns prior to Thursday tried to run 18 times, lost nine yards, and averaged 4.8 yards per carry before the break. Coupled with a passing game that completed just one pass for negative-3 yards and three sacks, and the clash of two of the more explosive offenses in 5A opened with less than a thud.

Not so much for the Tigers, who ran for 147 yards on 25 plays in the first half. Utah commit Aisa Galeai added a 45-yard rushing score on the Tigers' first drive of the game, and Kojima doubled the advantage with midway through the first quarter as part of a run game that piled up 94 yards before the break.

"There are a lot of good teams in the state," Orem coach Lance Reynolds Jr. said, "and I don't know how good a lot of the defenses are that they played. But I do know that our defense is legit, and I think it spoke for itself on the field today.

"They came into the game knowing (West) might get us here and there on some throws," he added. "But we were going to try to contain the run up front, and I think they did a great job. They came out with a five-man front, which is a little uncharacteristic; I was uncomfortable. But we looked pretty good against a good football team."

Kaawa, the Alabama quarterback commit, completed just three passes in the first half for 53 yards, but one of them included a 32-yard strike to Akana before the first quarter's end.

Illinois commit Kamden Lopati broke the shutout with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Junior Dixon in the final minute of the third quarter.

But Orem's defense took care of the rest, and Max Stonebraker put the game away for good with a 14-yard touchdown run with 5:44 remaining.

"All week, we were preaching to go out, play physical and dominant football, and that's what we did," Moala said. "We came out with this win."

Lopati finished with 102 yards and the touchdown, and also ran for 55 yards — but -19 net yards when factoring the eight sacks. Hamilton totaled 83 yards, including 29 receiving.

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