Knights peak late for victory

HIGHLAND — The scales were tipped heavily in Lone Peak's favor going into the 5A State Tournament Friday night. The Knights had only lost one game all season and were playing Riverton (6-4 entering the game) at home.

No one told Riverton it was the underdog, though, as the Silverwolves gave Lone Peak all it could handle forcing the Knights to come from behind late in the fourth quarter for a 20-10 first-round win.

"We're pretty lucky," said Lone Peak coach Monte Morgan. "We just got a couple of breaks and we took advantage of those breaks."

One of those breaks was just over a minute into the second half. Down 10-0, Lone Peak's Preston Yates sacked Riverton quarterback Joe Schrader, who fumbled the ball. Scott Gowdy scooped up the fumble at the 20-yard line and ran it in for the score, which pulled the Knights to within four at 10-6.

"Getting the fumble and running it back for a touchdown was huge," said Morgan. "It gave us life, and that gave us hope right there."

However, things were looking bleak for the Knights when Steve Beck fumbled the ball at midfield to Riverton's Jaron Crapo with 9:40 remaining in the game. Luck was on the Knights' side again as Schrader fumbled the ball on the next play and Gowdy was in the right place again to recover for Lone Peak.

On the resulting drive, Lone Peak was flagged for offensive pass interference at the goal line that put the Knights in third-and-long at their own 48 yard line. Riverton gave the Knights a break by roughing the passer on the ensuing unsuccessful third-down play. Three plays later Beck barely avoided a sack before tucking the ball in and running 26 yards for the winning touchdown and the 10-13 lead.

Riverton did threaten with under two minutes remaining, but Tyson Buck picked off a Schrader pass and returned it to the Silverwolves' 20. Beck ran it in again from 8 yards out for the final score.

The first half belonged to Riverton.

Beck began the game with a 36-yard run on the first play from scrimmage, but the Silverwolves' Aaron Jaussi made a touchdown-saving tackle by hauling him down from behind.

After a scoreless first quarter, Lone Peak fumbled 1:46 into the second quarter. Riverton recovered and Weston Ellis scored five plays later on a 9-yard run.

Rather than run the clock out before halftime, Lone Peak elected to see what it could do with the 8 seconds that remained. Beck was hit in the pocket and fumbled the ball, which was recovered at the 10 yard line by Riverton with 1.2 seconds in the half. Jaussi kicked the field goal as time expired.

"We talked about keeping our composure and executing," said Morgan of his halftime talk with his players. "Four or five times this year we've come from behind so it wasn't like we've never done it before or never been there."