High school football: Jordan beats Brighton — again

MIDVALE — At first glance, Jordan defensive back Taylor Smith read a Brighton receiver running a deep route. Smith geared up to defend that play when he saw a different play emerging.

He saw Brighton quarterback Derrick Newell eyeing a receiver on a post route — and the ball was coming right at him. It offered Smith an opportunity to give the Beetdiggers just the break they needed to prevent a late go-ahead touchdown.

"I read guy going deep, so I played that," Smith said. "And then all the sudden, when I turned on the throw, I read the post route and just jumped in front of it."

Smith intercepted Newell's pass in the end zone with 1:13 remaining to help Jordan escape with a 35-30 victory over the Bengals at Hillcrest High on a cold and snowy Tuesday night. The win earned the Beetdiggers a 5A first-round game against No. 1-ranked Bingham on Saturday afternoon.

That pick — which is the ninth for the senior this season — helped Smith set a new school record for interceptions in a season. It also helped the Beetdiggers stave off a late rally by Brighton.

It was the kind of play Jordan coach Eric Kjar has come to expect from Smith.

"He has great vision back there," Kjar said. "Saw everything in front of him and came up and made a play."

Before Smith's game-saving interception, the biggest story of the night for the Beetdiggers had been the outstanding effort put forth by Braden Hammond. All four touchdown passes thrown by Alex Hart went in Hammond's direction.

The pair first hooked up on Jordan's opening drive when Hart threw an 8 yard strike to Hammond to make it 7-7 less than two minutes into the game. Hart then found Hammond for a 41-yard bomb that put the Beetdiggers up 14-7 on the first play of the second quarter.

Hammond did a good job of tacking on yards after the initial catch on his next score. He broke three tackles to take a screen pass 18 yards and make it 21-7 with 8:19 left in the second quarter.

Brighton responded with a pair of touchdowns — tying the game at 21-21 on a 68-yard bomb from Newell to Stephen Robinson with 9:19 left in the third quarter. Hammond came to the rescue on the next drive, taking a short pass from Hart and sprinting 58 yards to put Jordan back up 28-21 just 58 seconds later.

Hammond credited Hart — who finished with 327 yards on 22-of-32 passing — with making it easy for him to produce big plays.