High school football: Offense and defense help Northridge cruise past Bonneville

WASHINGTON TERRACE - Northridge can probably expect to go pretty far with its offense alone.

If the Knights defense plays the rest of the season as it did Friday night at Bonneville though, they might really be scary.

Bonneville, which entered the game on an offensive high after averaging 32 points in its last two games, mustered just 59 first-half yards as Northridge cruised 36-9.

"We stopped the run," head coach Erik Thompson said. "On film, Bonneville really looks like a team that wants to run the ball and then take a shot on big plays. I think when we were able to get up and get them out of the running game, that was a really big key."

Northridge, the highest scoring team in Region 1 so far, wasted little time getting up on Bonneville, scoring on its first two possessions.

The first score came on a 25-yard run by quarterback Travis Harper while the second came on a 2-yard run by running back Brock Johnson. The Knights successfully tacked on a two-point conversion after the first touchdown on a run by Travis Rostal and were ahead 15-0 before the first quarter was even halfway over.

Bonneville, which was limited all night on long possessions, had one in the second quarter that could have brought them back into the game. The Lakers drove 56 yards down to the Knights' 13, but the drive stalled, forcing a field goal attempt.

After forcing a quick punt on Northridge's next possession, the Lakers looked like they might have another opportunity to score starting on their own 42 with 1:27 left in the half. But on the first play, quarterback Manaia Filiaga fumbled after scampering seven yards.

Suddenly with a golden opportunity to put Bonneville away by starting from the Lakers' 44, the Knights took advantage. On third-and-8, Harper found wide receiver Colton Hill for a 42-yard TD strike. Hill, who appears to have developed a propensity for late-half touchdown catches, slipped behind the Lakers' defense for the easy score to put Bonneville up 22-3 at the end of the half.

Last week against Layton, Hill had a 50-yard touchdown catch at the end of the first half, as well as what turned out to be the game-winning score, a 1-yard grab, with 10.1 seconds remaining in the contest.

Bonneville caught a break to start the second half, returning an unusually short kickoff to the Northridge 46. The Lakers ended up scoring on a fourth-and-3, but the Knights made them struggle for every yard. The drive lasted 14 plays and chewed up nearly nine minutes off the clock.

Conversely, Northridge's scoring drives were quick, hardly taking any time off the clock at all. Immediately following the Lakers' touchdown, which brought the score to 22-9, Northridge was back in the end zone after just seven plays. Trent Buckley, who had come in to play quarterback for his running ability, heaved two deep balls of 28 and 38 yards to lead the

Knights down the field and eventually into the end zone.

The Knights added their final touchdown of the game minutes later after a fumble, the third of the game for the Lakers, set them up with a first-and-goal on the Bonneville 9.