High school football: Silver Wolves outpace Darts in Region 1 tussle

PLAIN CITY — It was the kind of play one might expect from a guy whose nicknames include Mr. Wonderful and Mr. Varsity.

Then again, at 6-foot-6 and 217 pounds, Brock Smith isn't the guy anyone expected to outrun Davis' defense.

"I love throwing to Brock," said Fremont quarterback Cooper Kelley after Fremont overcame a frustrating first half to defeat Davis 20-7 Friday night. "He's a big target. But usually when he catches the ball downfield, he gets caught … I don't think I've seen him run that fast."

Smith admits that he was as surprised as anyone that he could outrun Davis' defensive backs. He even admitted to looking around and behind him as he sprinted into the end zone for the Silver Wolves' first score of the game — a 65-yard pass play from Kelley at 9:20 in the third quarter.

"I didn't want to get caught," said Smith, who finished with five catches and 129 yards receiving. "(The offensive line) gave us good blocks … (Kelley) gave me a good ball, and yeah, I looked around because I was trying not to get caught from behind. I'm definitely not (fast), that's for sure."

In fact, he zigzagged the last 15 yards to avoid a defender who appeared to be gaining on him.

"(Kelley) just called me out today and I tried to make the catches," he said.

Smith's catch gave the Silver Wolves more than six points. It swung momentum in favor of the home team and helped Fremont recover from a first-half in which it moved the ball but couldn't score.

"The first half we just weren't finishing our drives," said running back Nick Vigil, who finished with 108 yards rushing, including a 7-yard touchdown run for the final score of the game. "In the second half we got a little angry because we got that touchdown called back, and everyone came out and were firing on all cylinders. We were pretty angry."

The touchdown that was called back was a beautiful pass play from Kelley to Travis Stringham, but it was called back for offensive pass interference. The Silver Wolves went into the locker room at halftime trailing Davis 7-0, frustrated that they couldn't get in the end zone. Fremont had also fumbled near the end of the first quarter after moving the ball most of the length of the field.

"Halftime speeches are over-rated," said Fremont coach Kory Bosgeiter with a grin. "We made a couple of adjustments, but basically it was control what we can control and stop turning the football over. We needed to get some takeaways and that's what we did."

Five minutes after Smith's touchdown made the score 7-6 in Davis' favor, safety and back-up quarterback Jordan Preator snagged an interception and ran it back for a touchdown. Then Kelley connected with Rowdy Stucki for a two-point conversion to make the score 14-7 in favor of the Silver Wolves.

"That's the biggest stat of the game," Bosgeiter said. "That was a spark we needed. That was a wow play."

Kelley finished with 185 yards passing, while Davis' Tyson Denney threw for 159 yards a touchdown. Running back Mark Christiansen rushed for 41 yards on 16 carries.

Bosgeiter rejects the assertion that the winner of Friday's contest puts them in the driver's seat in region play.

"There is still a lot of football left to play," the coach said. "It's week two and we're happy that we're 2-0 in Region 1."

The players called the win "huge" as Region 1 promises to be one of the most competitive in the state.

"They're a really good football team," said Vigil. "They played really well, and I love the competition. I just think winning that game is really big for Region 1; we just got to go back to work and start playing again."

As for Smith, Vigil said he's not really surprised that the tight end, who also plays power forward and center on the school's basketball team, had a breakout game against Davis.

"He played a heck of a game tonight," said Vigil smiling. "We call him Mr. Wonderful or Mr. Varsity because he's started varsity basketball and football since his sophomore year. He can do anything. He's a great player."

Email: adonaldson@desnews.com