High school football: Skyline pounds Hillcrest

MIDVALE — The Hillcrest Huskies, missing their quarterback and several other starters, had little go right for them Friday night. That was due in large part to a near-perfect performance by the Skyline Eagles, who tallied 34 points in the second quarter en route to a 41-7 win Friday night in Midvale.

Algernon Brown tallied 169 total yards and three touchdowns, an impressive portion of the Eagles' 321 first-half yards. Quarterback Kevin Wagstaff completed 3-of-4 passes for 109 yards and two scores. Neither player saw the field in the second half, as most of the Skyline (4-3, 1-1) starters rested with the game well out of reach and the clock running continuously.

Longtime Skyline coach Roger Dupaix said he was happy to see his team come out and take advantage of a hobbled Huskies squad.

"I thought our kids played OK, but it's hard to evaluate because they (Hillcrest) were banged up," he said. "We had a decent first quarter, but we grabbed momentum in the second quarter and were able to do some things."

Brown opened the game by taking the ball 60 yards for a score on just the fourth snap. After the Eagles' next series ended in a missed field goal, Hillcrest (2-5, 0-2) was able to mount a decent drive of its own. But Caleb Latteier blocked Jeff Brown's 49-yard field-goal attempt, and the Skyline offense wasted little time scoring again.

Brown emerged uncovered from the backfield on the ensuing play and was found by Wagstaff for a 63-yard bomb and a 14-0 lead. As the Eagles forced one Hillcrest three-and-out after another, thanks to an abusive pass rush from Tenny Papapoi and the defensive line, the offense kept rolling. Tupou Hauteo scored two touchdowns, Wagstaff threw a perfect pass to a wide-open Casey Taylor in the end zone and Brown added one final touchdown to his collection to send the game into halftime at 41-0.

After missing Skyline's previous two games (including a runaway loss of their own to Alta) with a knee injury, Brown said it felt good to be back in the game.

"I'm excited to be back. Two weeks, I kind of got out of shape," he said. "But I didn't even feel the (injured) knee tonight. We still have a little sting from Alta, and we're going to take that out on Taylorsville too next week."

Despite being down big early, the Huskies still received outstanding efforts from several players. Anthony Bivins put forth a gutsy effort, taking most of the rushes and spending a large portion of the night at quarterback, where he also completed an 18-yard pass. Aaron Colborn, filling in for the injured Kolby Koplin, threw a third-quarter touchdown to Colby Brklacich for Hillcrest's only points on the night.

Life doesn't get easier for the Huskies, who visit Alta next Friday. It's the final leg of a brutal six game stretch with Copper Hills, Riverton, West Jordan, Jordan and Skyline.