High school football: Knights knock off previously unbeaten Bengals

HIGHLAND — The Lone Peak Knights weren't impressed with Brighton's 3-0 record going into Friday night's game. Or the fact that the Bengals had posted a trio of shutouts, outscoring their opponents by a combined 110-0 in their first three games.

So when the Knights played at home against the team that had been an offensive juggernaut in its first three games, Lone Peak wasn't exactly a gracious host, dominating all facets of the contest to roll to a 23-7 victory.

It was the Region 4 opener for both teams, a factor not lost on Knights quarterback Tannon Pedersen.

"Since it was a region game, we knew we had to come out big," he said. "We know we have a lot of good teams in our region." "

Lone Peak's third possession, a seven-play drive that started on its own 26-yard line, was capped off by Pedersen's 4-yard pass to Kyson Flake. The point-after kick attempt was blocked.

On Brighton's ensuing possession, the Bengals found themselves backed up, starting on their own 15-yard line. After a false start penalty pushed them back after gaining some yardage, Brighton quarterback Derrick Newell threw an interception — to Flake — who returned it 21 yards for the touchdown.

"I was sitting and waiting for the ball," Flake said in describing the play. "I knew he (Newell) couldn't see me. So it was good to catch it and take it in." "

The first half was a defensive display put on by the Knights, who held the Bengals to just 87 total yards and forced three turnovers, including a fumble recovery by Sae Tautu.

After the game, Lone Peak head coach Tony McGeary made no bones about his team focusing on all the talk surrounding Brighton's three previous shutouts.

"Absolutely we talked about it," he said. "We knew they had those shutouts, and our guys really rose to the challenge tonight." "

Trying to pitch a shutout of their own, the Knights didn't give up a score until 61/2 minutes remaining in the game when Newell found Thomas Thorup, who did most of the work on his 35-yard touchdown.

But that touchdown came when stingy Lone Peak already led, 20-0. A few minutes before that, Pedersen tacked on a second scoring toss, this one a 17-yarder to Ryan Savage.

Even with the dominating performance, McGeary said his team is not yet to the level he hopes for.

"We're getting there," he said after being asked if the win was the complete game he was looking for. "We sputtered too many times on defense in the second half. And we still have to get our running game going better."

After throwing a pair of interceptions in the previous week against Riverton, Pedersen said he was focused on having a more consistent game.

"I knew I had to come out better tonight," he said. "My goal was to be more efficient, and I think I was. I tried to go deep a couple times, but I guess I was just trying to get greedy, so I tried to stay with my plan."

Lone Peak's Ryne MacPherson added a 22-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.