High school football: Nationally ranked Bingham opens with blowout of Viewmont

BOUNTIFUL — Yep, Bingham's that good.

Ranked No. 5 nationally by USA Today and No. 9 by MaxPreps, the Miners opened the season with a bang, pounding Viewmont 51-0 Friday night in one of the best openers coach Dave Peck could recall from his Miners.

About the only thing that kept it from being a flawless performance was a slew of uncharacteristic penalties in the first half.

"I think it was one of our best openers we've had in a long time, the kids were playing with a lot of energy," said Peck.

Bingham led 17-0 after the first quarter and 34-0 at the half. A Harvey Langi 25-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter made it 41-0, setting off the mercy rule and a running clock the rest of the game.

The Miners did it in all facets of the game, with a dominant defense, an efficient offense and some spectacular special teams play.

In the first half alone Bingham forced Viewmont into six punts, and Brady Measom and Josh Smith capitalized by combining to return them an average of 31 yards.

Smith's 72-yard punt return with 7:59 remaining in the second quarter put Bingham up 31-0. Strangely, Viewmont never kicked away from Bingham's explosive punt returners.

Defensively, the Miners looked every bit like the fifth best team in the country. They helped Viewmont to a paltry 39 yards total offense, and the Vikings didn't get their first non-penalty first down until the final minute of the game.

"I don't know what it looked like from the stands, but our kids came ready to play and they came flying to the ball," said Peck.

Bingham's defensive players had reason to be fired up after their coach challenged them before the bus ride to Bountiful.

"If we're getting this national recognition, I expect you to play like you're the best team in the nation. Is there any reason why we can't be the No. 1 team in the nation when it comes to effort and being physical and hitting? Give me one reason why any team in Texas or Florida or anywhere should be more physical and fly to the ball better than we do?" said Peck, recalling his pep talk.

Offensively, the Miners used a balanced attack with Langi rushing for 89 yards and a touchdown, Marques Herrera rushing for 59 yards and a touchdown and Inoke Taufalele adding two first half touchdowns.

There was nothing flashy about Bingham's offense, but it was efficient as it finished with 316 yards total offense.

Overall, it was the type of performance you'd expect from one of the nation's best.

"I've never, ever talked about rankings in 26 years, until recently. With our kids, I just said there may never be a time when a Utah team has respect like this. I just said every time we play people are going to come to watch it because of that, and I hope when they leave the game they go, 'wow, they're deserving of that national ranking,' " said Peck.

So far so good.