High school football: Miners make it look easy in winning 28th straight region game

WEST JORDAN —" For the last several years, the Bingham Miners have been dominating region opponents. It doesn't appear that will end anytime soon.

At least that's how West Jordan coach Mike Morgan sees it. Friday night, the Miners won their 28th straight region game with a convincing 41-7 win over the Jaguars in a Region 3 contest.

Junior running back Harvey Langi rushed for 127 yards on just nine carries, and also caught a 62-yard touchdown pass for a score. But it was the defense that frustrated Morgan's team, forcing five turnovers, including a 52-yard interception return by Manoa Pikula.

"They have so many weapons," said Morgan, whose team fell to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in region. "They can beat you in so many ways."

And they did. The Miners were never challenged. They started the game simply by handing the ball to Langi and watching him run behind his big offensive line. Langi scored two quick touchdowns in the first quarter, and then quarterback Ty Hannay hit Braden Anderson on a 20-yard scoring pass.

It was 21-0 early.

It stayed that way until the start of the second half. On Bingham's third play, Hannay found Langi on a short pass and the speedster outran everyone to the end zone. Since the Miners didn't score in the second period, that ended any doubts this game would be competitive.

"I really wasn't worried," said Bingham coach Dave Peck of his No. 1-ranked team. "We were in control defensively. There were opportunities for us to put the game away before then (halftime), but we didn't take advantage.

"They (the Jaguars) are a scrappy bunch of guys."

Scrappy wasn't enough, though. Michael Moorehead, a talented freshman starting in place of the injured Adam Boelter, did manage a 65-yard run in the fourth quarter, and then finished the drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Deshawn Perkins.

But that was the high point for West Jordan's spread offense. In the first half, the Jags had nine possessions, and six resulted in three plays and a punt. Two others were stopped by interceptions.

Bingham's Anderson finished with two of the picks. He also returned a punt 42 yards that set up a touchdown, proving Morgan's comment of the Miners' many weapons.

Bingham didn't play its best game, Peck said. The Miners went away from Langi for a good portion of the game to try to improve their pass offense, which they want to be in peak condition when the Miners play Riverton next week, which will decide the Region 3 championship.

"We are where we wanted to be at this time," said Peck, whose Miners are 7-1 overall and 3-0 in region.

West Jordan, meanwhile, has a non-region game next week, but will then meet Kearns in a game with playoff implications. Morgan said Boelter, who was hurt against Riverton, is expected to play.