High school football: Rabbits play solid game in defeating Wasps

NEPHI — Most football fans from Delta and Juab high schools were focused on how the outcome of Friday's Region 12 rivalry would affect the seeding for next week's playoffs.

Rabbits coach Russ Henrie, however, was only interested in seeing his team play a solid football game. And that's exactly what he got in Delta's 21-7 road win over the Wasps. Delta (4-1) finishes tied with Manti atop the league standings but gets the No. 2 seed by virtue of losing the head-to-head battle with the Templars.

"Whether we're a 2 or a 3, I don't know if that matters because either way is going to be tough," Henrie said. "Right now we need to win these games for our mental psych and to build our confidence so we can go into these playoffs with a little bit of fire."

Juab (3-2) finishes tied for third with Emery, but by losing to the Spartans the Wasps enter next week's playoffs with a No. 4 seed and a first-round matchup with 3A power Juan Diego.

Delta, with a tough and tenacious defense that forced three Juab turnovers, really took control of the game in the first half with a 21-0 lead at the break. With the exception of one Juab possession, every time the Wasps got something going offensively the Rabbits shut it down with a stellar defensive play.

"We've actually been struggling some on defense, but our defense really grew up tonight. Juab is a good football team and very explosive, but when we needed to come up with the big play, we came up with the big play and that's what we have to have in the next couple of weeks," Henrie said.

Offensively, the Rabbits had most of the game-breaking plays and did a much better job of protecting the football.

"We still have to scrap for our lives and we still have a long ways to go, but I feel like our kids took a step in the right direction tonight," Henrie said.

Both teams struggled to get much of anything going in the first quarter, but late in the period Delta quarterback Joey Dutson faked a handoff over the right side and then hit Brendan Willoughby over the top, and Willoughby ran untouched for a 78-yard TD pass.

Midway through the second quarter Braden Schouten picked off a Juab pass to end a Wasps drive at Delta's 38-yard line. Two plays later Derek Peterson busted loose for a 31-yard gain. A pass to Taylor Shamo moved the ball to Juab's 5-yard line, and Willoughby punched it in from there.

An interception by Josh Ipson with 1:12 left in the half gave Delta one more chance to score before the break, and the Rabbits capitalized. On a fourth-and-four Dutson avoided a sack and weaved his way down to the 2-yard line. Peterson rushed in from there, with 31 seconds on the clock, to give Delta its 21-0 halftime lead.

Even though the Rabbits couldn't muster up any points after the intermission, they really only allowed Juab one second-half scoring chance and the Wasps finally got on the board in the final seconds of the third quarter when Brock Orme dove in from one yard out.