No. 1 Miners stunned by upset-minded Beetdiggers

SOUTH JORDAN — Friday's Top 5 showdown between Jordan and Bingham was supposed to be the first game on the Beetdiggers' newly renovated field.

Too bad it wasn't.

A wildly entertaining, if not shocking, 36-35 victory over the No. 1-ranked Miners would have been an amazing way for 5A's fifth-ranked Jordan to break in its new field and celebrate the school's 100th anniversary.

The 'Diggers will happily settle for a terrific road win in what would have to be counted as one of the school's greatest regular-season victories. The game had to be moved because the field wasn't quite ready.

Quarterback Chaun Cook led Jordan to the crazy victory — which wasn't decided until Bingham missed a two-point conversion and had a recovered onside kick overruled — by racking up 334 yards and four touchdowns through the air and another TD on the ground.

Standout receiver Cody Raymond hauled in 165 yards in receptions — and two fumble recoveries — with two touchdowns and wideout Darren Carter had 123 receiving yards and one TD.

"That's great. It feels good," Cook said. "We kind of had to believe or there's no chance at winning."

It didn't seem like they had much of a chance coming in considering Bingham was ranked nationally in some polls and was riding high on a 17-game winning streak. The loss was the first for the Miners, now 3-1 after going 14-0 en route to the 2006 5A title, since the 2005 quarterfinals when they fell to Mike Hague-led Brighton.

"You want to win every game, of course. That is heartbreaking," Bingham coach Dave Peck said. "My hat's off to Jordan. They played a great game."

And Bingham? Not so much.

They opened the game on top with a 67-yard touchdown run by Sam Langi, but the Beetdiggers dominated for quite a while after that. Despite getting 208 yards on the ground by Langi in the first half alone, Bingham trailed 28-17 at the half.

Cook had three touchdown passes and scrambled for another in that breakout second quarter.

The highlight of that half was a Utah high school record kick by the Pele of Pigskin, Justin Sorensen, who booted a 62-yard field goal at the end of the first half.

Despite going into the locker room with that momentum, Bingham didn't come out of halftime with Langi. He went down with a separated shoulder and missed the second half. Bingham also lost linebacker LT Filiaga with an injury.

Those injuries, according to Peck, hurt worse than the loss.