Alta defense too strong, Hawks advance to finals

Offensive players may get the glory, but football is a game with three different facets. The much-hyped semifinal between No. 1 Bingham and second-ranked Alta certainly displayed that.

"The game was a night of defense and special teams," said Hawks coach Les Hamilton. "The offenses only did things here and there, but the defenses and special teams for both teams really performed."

While both teams made big plays on special teams, the Alta defense separated itself as the unit most responsible for a 21-17 win over the Miners. The stingy unit stepped up in big situations and made the plays when it counted most.

"Our defense is solid," said Alta defensive back Brantley Dunn. "We gave up two big plays the whole night, and other than that, we played solid and level headed. We were prepared all week by our coaches, and we came out and executed."

The game featured many momentum-changing plays. The first of which came when Alta's Parker Walbeck fielded a punt at his own 34 and took it back to the Bingham 2-yard line. Mr. Football, Sausan Shakerin, punched it in from there for the 7-0 lead. Walbeck's return was extra special for him because he didn't even play football until this season.

"I told myself that if they punt it to me, I am going to take it back," said Walbeck. "That is my specialty on this team, and I love doing it. I was up in those stands last year watching against Bingham and I said, 'I am not going to let that happen to my friends again. I am going to be there and we are going to win it.'"

Justin Sorensen pulled the Miners closer with a 38-yard field goal with just more than a minute to go in the first quarter, but then Alta began to take over. The Hawks had a nine-play, 80-yard drive capped by a Shakerin six-yard run, and an 11-play, 64-yard drive that Shakerin finished with a four-yard touchdown run to go up 21-3.

With the supposed game-of-the-year threatening to become a blowout, Bingham's T.J. Ford turned the tide. He returned an Alta punt 67 yards for a touchdown with 1:51 left in the half and gave the Miners a jolt going into the locker room.

The energy continued for the Miners coming out of the locker room. It was Ford again that made the big play as he broke a 57-yard touchdown run to make the score 21-17 with 11:02 remaining in the third quarter.

"You in the crowd thought he was fast — try guarding him. That kid is lightning," said Dunn of trying to defend Ford.

The Alta defense found a solution and shut down the Miners the rest of the way. Bingham was 0-for-10 on third-down conversions for the game, and other than Ford's big run, allowed an average of less than four yards-per-play.

"We knew we just had to shut them down," said Alta's all-state linebacker Jefferson Court. "We knew that it could be up to us as a defense to make the big plays and stop them, and we did it."

Alta's win puts the Hawks back in the 5A championship game for the second consecutive year. They play Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Rice-Eccles stadium to try to claim the school's first football title since 1988.

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E-mail: mblack@desnews.com