Cafe Rio Game Night Live player of the game: Skyridge's Sua Ripley

LEHI — Orem's defense came in with some of more-feared players in the state Saturday night in a road tilt at Skyridge High School, led by four-star Oklahoma commit Krew Jones and four-star junior Major Stokes, whose lengthy list of offers includes Alabama, BYU and Michigan, among others.

Sua Ripley wants Utah high school football to know that his Falcons have "some dogs" on defense, too.

He certainly was one Saturday.

The senior edge rusher had nine tackles and 1.5 sacks as Skyridge went toe-to-toe with Orem's fearsome front and emerged with a 21-14 win over the Tigers in Saturday's Game Night Live featured matchup.

It's the first win of the season for the Falcons (1-1), who rebounded from a 41-26 loss to Mountain Ridge a week prior in which the Sentinels rolled up 209 yards on the ground through Bradley Foster and another 385 yards and four touchdowns on the arm of Jaxon Hunter.

"After last week, we had a bad taste in our mouth," Ripley said after being named Cafe Rio player of the game. "We were just prepared this week, trusted our coaches, and came out looking for blood. I trusted my brothers beside me to get the job done — and we got it done."

Ripley had seven tackles a week earlier against Mountain Ridge, which improved to 2-0 with a 42-0 road win over Lehi. But he stepped up against the Tigers for a defense that held Orem to just 26 rushing yards and picked off quarterback Tanner Lewis.

"That wasn't Skyridge football that we played last week," Ripley said. "We knew it, the coaches knew it, the fans knew it; everybody knew it. We just came and we balled out. I'm proud of these boys, and proud of everybody. We got the job done; on to next week.

"We wanted to come out and show that stars don't matter. They've got more stars, but we've sot some dogs."

Skyridge coach Justin Hemm echoed his defensive lineman after "a heckuva job," while allowing the offense led by quarterback Jagger Fountaine and running back Beckham Bennett to find their own rhythm.

"I'd put our defense up there with any defense in the state," Hemm added. "I don't think the second half last week was indicative of who they are or what they are — and I think they did a great job all day today. They kept us in the ball game, and gave us time as an offense to figure things out."

Skyridge hosts New Jersey's Hun at 11 a.m. MT Saturday as part of a doubleheader at West High that also includes Orem against southern California power Mater Dei.

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