High school football: Knights' special teams enjoy big night vs. Wolves

HIGHLAND — If it had been a competition between Lone Peak's special teams and offense, the special teams would have come out on top Friday night.

It's a good thing both squads are on the same team, because their combined efforts helped to produce a 38-26 victory over Riverton.

Individually, the hero for the Knights early on was Jared Fenton, who accounted for two of Lone Peak's three first-quarter touchdowns.

Fenton took the opening kickoff all the way to the end zone for a 92-yard touchdown return, then followed that up by going 99 yards untouched on another kickoff return for a score.

While Fenton was the one who will show up on the box score for the touchdowns, Lone Peak head coach Tony McGeary also gave credit to some other key contributors on special teams.

"The guys in the middle wedge — Jacob Hannemann, Eric Pollard, Steven Livingston, Tanner Larsen and Chris Nielson — deserve a lot of credit," he said. "And (Fenton) was hitting the wedge just like we practice it." "

Sandwiched between those two touchdowns was another big special teams play, this one by Brennan Stratton, who blocked a Riverton punt on the Silverwolves' 25-yard line and then fell on the ball for a touchdown.

The Knights' special teams got the job done so solidly that the offense didn't run a play from scrimmage until there was less than four minutes to play in the first quarter.

Riverton's offense was moving the ball well, and that fluidity paid off on their third possession when Eric Thoreson found Dillon Draper for a 32-yard strike. Draper later added two short touchdown runs, while Thoreson had a 36-yard scoring pass to Jake Bowman.

The third component of any football team — the defense — also made some big plays in Lone Peak's win. Lone Peak quarterback Tannon Pedersen threw two interceptions, but to his credit, continued to fight and reaped the rewards for his efforts.

"He got out of rhythm, but coming into the second half, he regrouped and executed what we talked about at halftime," McGeary said. "He was able to go up top when he needed to.""