3A high school football: Stingy Wasatch defense stifles Desert Hills

HEBER CITY — The Wasatch Wasps had heard plenty about the Desert Hills defense.

Saturday, Wasatch let its own defense take center stage as the Wasps forced seven turnovers and allowed just 188 yards in a 25-7 3A first-round playoff victory over the Thunder.

"We knew their defense was pretty tough and they got us out of our game plan a little bit on offense," Wasatch coach Steve North said. "But our defense was awesome today. We were flying around forcing, what, six or seven turnovers. We did what Desert Hills usually does."

Indeed, the Wasps' defense rebounded well after giving up 53 points to Park City last week in the regular-season finale that handed the Region 10 title to the Miners.

"We got our tails whooped last week by Park City," North said. "They're a great team, but we didn't play well. The guys this week had a great attitude — the best week of practice all year."

Wasatch allowed just two sustained drives all day to the Thunder. One resulted in a touchdown, but the other ended in a fumble at the 1-yard line that was pounced on by the Wasps' defense.

Wasatch struggled at times on offense itself. The Wasps opened the game with a long drive, but had to settle for a 30-yard field goal by Spencer Edwards and a 3-0 lead.

The first Desert Hills turnover of the game came two series later when Thunder quarterback Chase Webster was sacked and fumbled the ball backwards. The resulting recovery set Wasatch up at the DH 17-yard line.

The Wasps went backward over the next five plays and faced a fourth-and-goal from back at the 25-yard line. But that was no problem for quarterback Payton Davis and wide receiver Alex Probst as they hooked up for a 25-yard fade pass for the TD. A two-point run by Davis made it 11-0 with 2:30 left in the first half.

The catch was the first of two TD grabs by Probst, a junior speedster.

"We haven't thrown to Alex much the past couple of weeks," North said. "But he is a big-game guy and he had some big catches today."

The other receiving star for Wasatch was running back Mike Davis. He had 10 grabs for 96 yards and was Payton Davis' favorite target on third-down conversion tries.

Wasatch pushed the lead to 17-0 at the half with a great two-minute drill drive in the waning seconds of the second quarter.

Payton Davis found Probst from 17 yards out to cap an eight-play, 60-yard drive that ended with just 31 seconds to go until halftime.

Desert Hills made a game of it in the third quarter with a TD pass from Porter Harris to Tanner Atkin from 18 yards out that capped a five-play, 75-yard drive.

The Thunder also forced a three-and-out on the next Wasatch possession. But a muffed punt set the Wasps up with a short field once again and Payton Davis scored from a yard out to put the game out of reach.

Wasatch (9-2) will play host to Bear River next Friday, while the Thunder, who got 114 passing yards from Harris in relief of Webster, finish the season 6-4.