Lone Peak starts slow, finishes with 30 points

WEST JORDAN — The Lone Peak Knights turned the ball over three times and gave up a 13-0 lead in the first half of their game with West Jordan here Friday.

But the Knights managed to regroup and score 30 unanswered points en route to a 30-13 non-region victory.

"We just stopped giving up the ball," said Knights head coach Monte Morgan. "We started executing a little better offensively."

Knights quarterback Steve Beck connected on 11 of 21 pass attempts for 212 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for two scores to lead Lone Peak.

The Jaguars took early momentum when they forced Lone Peak to fumble away its first possession. West Jordan took only five plays to cap a 24-yard scoring drive on a 2-yard LeRoy Love touchdown run for a 7-0 lead just 3:27 into the game.

Early in the second quarter, Knights return man Scott Lefrandt muffed a punt and Weston Smith picked up the lose ball for the Jaguars — once again giving West Jordan possession inside Lone Peak territory.

Running back Keith Hogan put the Jaguars up 13-0 with a 15-yard touchdown scamper with 8:04 to play in the first half.

After fumbling away the ball once again, Lone Peak managed to stop West Jordan's offense to take possession with just over three minutes remaining in the half.

The Jaguars started a drive at their own 38-yard line and took five plays to pull within six points just before the half.

On the second half's opening kickoff, Morgan decided to reach into his bag of tricks to call an onside kick that caught the Jaguars off guard. Taft Rasmussen recovered for Lone Peak, and the Knights marched 35 yards in four plays to take a 14-13 lead on Beck's 1-yard run.

The Knights later capitalized on a West Jordan turnover as they cashed in on a 32-yard Jonathan Hess field goal with 4:06 to play in the third. And after a botched fake punt attempt by the Jaguars, Beck once again led Lone Peak to a score with a 1-yard run to cap a 26-yard drive for a 23-13 lead two seconds into the fourth quarter.

The final score came as Lone Peak faced a third-and-23 with just over two minutes to play. Morgan called for a pass to pick up the first down, but Beck connected with Tyler Haws, who saw nothing but open field in his way and found the endzone on an 80-yard reception.

"I figured the game was still open at that point," Morgan said, explaining the play was not called with a touchdown in mind. "If we punt and they score, it's a really dangerous situation. I didn't think we had anything to lose."