4A high school football: Lakers rescued by defense in first-round overtime victory

WASHINGTON TERRACE — Bonneville's offense didn't play nearly well enough to expect to beat Bountiful in the opening round of the 4A state tournament on Friday night. Its defense did, though, which turned out to be good enough.

Capitalizing on four Bountiful second-half turnovers, Bonneville rallied for a surprising 14-7 overtime victory at Thom Budge Field to advance to next week's quarterfinals.

It was a shocking victory considering how bad Bonne?ville's offense played the entire game, finishing with just six first downs and 142 yards of total offense.

The Lakers' defense, however, came up with big stops all game, and none was bigger than Jake Conolly's fumble recovery in the waning seconds of regulation with Bountiful in field goal range and Devin Mickles' interception in the end zone in overtime to ice the game.

"We've relied on our defense all year long, and they did a great job again," said Bonneville coach Matt Williams. "The defense believes in what we're doing and they play hard and they hold a great Bountiful team to seven points, what else do you say."

Three of Bountiful's turnovers came in the fourth quarter and overtime, but the first definitely changed the complexion of the game. Until Bountiful coughed up a punt at its own 22-yard line leading 7-0 early in the fourth quarter, it didn't seem like Bonne?ville's anemic offense had any hope of scoring.

With a short field though, the Lakers capitalized, tying the game at 7-7 as Manaia Filiaga connected with Sage Stireman on a 21-yard touchdown pass on fourth down and nine.

The two hooked up again from 11 yards out to give the Lakers the 14-7 lead on the opening possession of overtime.

"The kid is a competitor and he's a great athlete, and you believe in him and he got it done for us tonight," said Williams about Filiaga, who struggled most of the game, completing just 8-of-27 passes.

Bountiful appeared to tie the game on its overtime possession on a fourth-down completion, but an illegal formation penalty negated the score and its next fourth-down pass was intercepted by Mickles.

The loss was a devastating ending for a Bountiful team that entered the playoffs with a 9-1 record, and was one play away from a game-winning field goal attempt. With 3:35 remaining in the game and the score tied, Bountiful methodically marched into field goal range at the 17-yard line with 18 seconds remaining. In trying to pick up a few extra yards, however, the Braves fumbled the snap and the Lakers recovered.

Bonneville's defense held Bountiful to 194 yards of total offense, with 57 coming on that final drive of regulation.

The Braves scored their only touchdown late in the first quarter as Ben Lemon broke four tackles on a 16-yard touchdown run.