High school football: Robinson leads Bengals over American Fork

AMERICAN FORK — There's a lot of ways to put points on the scoreboard in a football game. One way is by scoring literally every time you touch the ball: The strategy employed by Brighton's Stephen Robinson on Wednesday night.

The senior caught just three passes — one of them thrown by the opposing team's quarterback — but took all three of them to the end zone to help the Bengals (6-2) in their Region 4 35-12 win over American Fork (3-6).

After the game, Brighton head coach Ryan Bullett talked about Robinson stepping up.

"He has a little bit of speed on him," Bullett said in a bit of an understatement. "He's a senior, so it's time for him to make plays."

Robinson understands that leadership role he possesses, and doesn't seem to be one to run away from a challenge.

"That's definitely how I feel," he said. "I'm a senior, so I try to lead my team, and we know that in this region, we have to win every game to get in the playoffs."

In all, Robinson totaled 108 yards on just a pair of touchdown catches. He added a fourth-quarter 72-yard interception return for a score.

After a scoreless first quarter, Brighton's Sosai TaKai rumbled in from three yards out to get his team on the board. TaKai was a workhorse for the Bengals – returning kicks in addition to lining up in the backfield – and ended with 112 yards and the score on 19 carries.

On Brighton's very next possession, Derrick Newell found a streaking Robinson for a 58-yard scoring strike. The touchdown was a particularly frustrating one for the AF defense, because it came with just 24 seconds left before halftime.

As far as efficiency goes, Newell was right on par with his teammate Robinson. The Bengal signal-caller finished with 243 yards passing – including a pair of touchdowns – but did all that damage through the air on just eight completions (10 attempts).

Newell also added a score on the ground — a 5-yarder — that built Brighton's lead to 21-0.

American Fork's Chase Hansen and Cade Zarbock scored twice during the game — a 9-yarder and a 20-yarder from Hansen to Zarbock — and did their best to keep the Cavemen in the game.

But sandwiched in between those two touchdowns was Robinson's 50-yard scoring reception. And any chance of an American Fork comeback was squashed when Robinson got his interception return touchdown with under 30 seconds to play in the game.

After a tough 12-7 loss to Pleasant Grove last week, Bullett was skeptical of how his team would play after a short week of practice.

"I was wondering how they would react after (the loss), but they were in good spirits during practice," he said. "I was happy that they were physical, and focused, and mentally tough. I was happy for our kids, because (American Fork) is a tough team. They've been in every game, so I'm glad our kids rose up."