High school football: Viewmont overwhelms Northridge

BOUNTIFUL — On an evening where strong winds looked to almost blow both teams off the field, it was the Viewmont Vikings who blew away the visiting Northridge Knights.

A combination of a stifling defense and a few explosive offensive plays gave Viewmont a 34-13 victory in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicated.

Viewmont was absolutely dominant at the line of scrimmage in racking up a total of 367 yards, including 265 yards rushing. Leading the way for the Vikings was the electric Austin Cheney.

The senior running back used great balance and vision to rush for 176 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns, including a 59-yarder late in the fourth quarter that ended any hope of a Northridge comeback.

The other big-play man for the Vikings was receiver Dustin Grigg.

The explosive senior scored the Vikings' first touchdown on a 20-yard end around in which he ducked one cornerback and carefully kept both feet in bounds, tiptoeing up the sideline.

Grigg again made his mark on the field early in the fourth quarter.

When Viewmont quarterback Jeremy Lieber saw that Northridge's safety was creeping up trying to stop the run, he quickly audibled for a fly route to Grigg. Racing up the left sideline, Grigg caught a perfect lob pass from Lieber and outran Northridge's Brock Johnson the final 70 yards into the end zone.

Lieber and Grigg have been playing together since little league and have a chemistry that only comes from years of practice.

"Dustin is a heck of a player, and as soon as I saw the safety drop, I audibled to him; he did the rest," said Leiber.

Grigg was quick to give his quarterback the credit for the 93-yard touchdown pass play.

"I couldn't have done anything without the throw," said Grigg.

As good as the offense played, the Vikings' defense was even better, holding Northridge to only 109 total yards on 52 plays — an average of 2.1 yards per play.

Defensive lineman Clyde Reaveley and J.R. Nemelka wreaked havoc in the backfield, consistently harassing Northridge quarterback Travis Harper into a difficult night passing and consistently stuffing the Knights' rushing attack.

"Our defense played awesome, (defensive) coach Farnsworth did a great job," said Vikings' coach Brad Lloyd.

The only flaw in the Vikings' game were lapses on special teams allowing huge kickoff returns and turning the ball over four times on offense.

"At the end, we were trying to give the game away and our defense kept stopping them," said Lloyd.