High school football: Bonneville defense stifles Woods Cross

WASHINGTON TERRACE — Woods Cross looked to exploit Bonneville's tenacious defense early with some tricky running plays Friday night, and it had success.

But Bonneville's defense asserted itself on its home turf. The Lakers forced a tide-turning interception in the second quarter, and Bonneville — for the third week in a row — got three touchdowns from its "D" to beat the Wildcats 27-14 in Region 5 football.

Bonneville's John Hughes had two interception returns for touchdowns, and Connor Stephens added a fumble return.

Woods Cross took a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter on quarterback David Cusick's 53-yard screen pass to Michael Clark, who ran for about 50 of those yards. The Wildcat offense was effective in using misdirection and counter plays to keep the Lakers off-balance.

"(Woods Cross) took advantage of our aggressiveness on defense," Bonneville coach Matt Williams said. "We had to adjust some things."

Following the touchdown, Bonneville had a three-and-out and was forced to punt, and Woods Cross mounted a drive that reached the Laker 15-yard line with a chance to go up by two scores.

But on third-and-5, Cusick's screen-pass attempt was tipped in the air and fell into the hands of Laker defensive lineman Connor Stephens at the Woods Cross 19.

That gave the ball and momentum back to Bonneville. On third-and-10 from the 19, Laker quarterback Todd Aubrey hit Justin Stofferahn for a 39-yard gain. Four rushes by fullback Tyson Jenkins got Bonneville into the red zone. Those runs set up a play-action pass on which Aubrey found Austen Richards wide open for a 14-yard touchdown. Adam Farnsworth's extra point tied the game at 7-7.

Then the Laker defensive scoring party began.

With about two minutes remaining in the first half, Woods Cross faced third-and-12 just across midfield. Once again, Cusick's pass was tipped, this time falling into the hands of Hughes. The senior linebacker had an instant convoy of blockers and took it 50 yards for the score and a 14-7 halftime lead for Bonneville.

Hughes and the Lakers struck again in the third quarter. Woods Cross (2-5) had committed a holding penalty that wiped out a 40-yard punt return by Willie Wolfgramm and pinned the Wildcats deep in their own territory. On third-and-8, the Laker D-line forced Cusick into a bad throw, which Hughes tracked down for the pick and took 15 yards to the end zone. Stephens' fumble return TD came on the next Wildcat possession.

"The first (interception) was luck, and the second one I saw coming," said Hughes, who gave credit to Bonneville defensive coordinator Jantz Afutavi for the Lakers' effort on that side of the ball.

The third quarter featured a bizarre, controversial play. Bonneville (3-5) got no yards on a third-and-5 run. After the play, a Woods Cross player slapped the ball out of a Bonneville player's hand. A penalty flag was thrown, but eventually the officials reversed the call. However, the next play was still considered third down.