High school football: Brighton posts win during Pleasant Grove's homecoming

PLEASANT GROVE — The Brighton Bengals quietly slipped into Pleasant Grove and not so quietly took care of business by scoring of 4-of-12 possessions en route to a 27-10 victory over the Vikings to spoil their homecoming.

“It was a hard-hitting game on both sides, but I am proud of how well we came out and executed our game plan,” Brighton coach Ryan Bullet said. “We have been playing the Vikings for quite a while and it has not always been easy to come down here and get a win. I’ve tried to get us to raise our level of play to match the Vikings and I believe that in the last little while we have been able to do that.”

On fourth down of Pleasant Grove’s first possession, junior Kicker Trevor Ward had his punt blocked by Brighton’s junior Linebacker Uaea Masina, and on the second play after recovering the blocked punt, Brighton’s senior quarterback Andy Jones connected with another senior wide receiver Zach Wertz for a 23-yard touchdown pass.

The Vikings got the ball back and kept control of the clock and the ball for the remaining time in the quarter. Despite having a first-and-goal on the 2-yard line, the Vikings failed to score a touchdown, but Kicker Ward split the uprights with a 25-yard FG to cut the lead to 7-3.

In the next 12 minutes, the Bengals did most of the damage to their hometown hosts.

Brighton's first score came on an 18-yard scamper by senior running back Elias Fairman, and its second touchdown of the quarter came as a result of an interception by Masina. Three plays later, Braden El-Bakari scored from the 1-yard line, and the Bengals entered the locker room with a 20-3 lead.

El-Bakari scored the Bengals’ final on a 2-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Pleasant Grove, on the other hand, replaced quarterbacks and junior Skyler Munson engineered a 65-yard scoring drive capped off by a QB keeper from the 5-yard line.

Brighton (2-2-1, 0-1) has a week off before hosting Alta on Sept. 30, while the Vikings (2-3) host Lehi in a Region 4 contest on Sept. 23.

Kent Allen covers Pleasant Grove High School varsity sports and can be reached at krallen@orem.org