High school football: Braves shock No. 3 Rams in blowout

BOUNTIFUL— Bountiful's defense hit hard and where it hurt Friday night, holding Highland to a lone field goal in a 27-3 Region 6 battle. The Braves flustered Highland's offense all night, forcing turnovers and sacking Justin Weaver a handful of times in his second start.

"Bountiful's defense is always tough," said Highland coach Brody Benson.

"Coach Wall does a great job with them. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot sometimes, but they played tough."

Teau Satuala and TJ Rock led the the Braves' defense, recording key sacks to stop Highland's offense.

"I can't say enough about our defense," said Braves coach Larry Wall. "We came out on a mission and hit on all aspects of it. If you play a team like Highland, you have to play team defense and everyone has to do their job. We had some turnovers and some big stops. Our intensity was out of sight."

The Braves' offense wasn't too shabby either led by an offensive line that opened holes for the running game. Jakob Hunt led the run attack, finishing with two touchdowns including a 56-yarder on the Braves' opening drive.

"Anytime we score 27 points, we are going to be in the ball game," said Wall.

"I thought our offensive game plan was very good tonight."

Teau also contributed on the offensive side of the ball, nabbing a 35-yard toss from Cam Zollinger in the 3rd quarter to put Bountiful up 14-3.

The turning point in the game came just before the toss from Zollinger to Teau when Highland was called for roughing the punter to give Bountiful a second chance. The play deflated Highland, which had pinned Bountiful at its own 4-yard line to begin the drive after a great punt by Hayes Hicken. The Braves scored 20 unanswered points after the penalty to put the game out of reach.

"We've finally got everybody healthy and things seem to be clicking," said Wall, whose team moves to 2-0 in Region 6 while Highland falls to 1-1. "We had played some tough teams early on, including this one tonight so it's good to get clicking."

Hunt was the standout offensively in the game, rushing for nearly 150 yards including a 65-yard dash.

Weaver proved a workhorse for Highland, carrying the ball 26 times for 119 yards. But he struggled with his passing game, going 5-of-15.