High school football: Woods Cross falls short to Bountiful

The Woods Cross Wildcats fell short Friday night in a 44-21 loss to the Bountiful Braves.

"We played a tough game tonight,” said Wildcats player Cameron Easton. “Bountiful is a great team and they deserve all the credit. We'll bounce back in the playoffs."

From the start, the Wildcats saw they were going to have to work hard. Early in the first quarter, Braves No. 10 Cam Zollinger intercepted a Wildcat pass and put the Braves at the Wildcat 15-yard line. With a flag thrown on the next play, the touchdown the Braves scored was recanted. The Braves got the ball back and No. 2 Luke Larsen scored a touchdown. No. 63 Richard Haddock made the kick, putting the score at 7-0 for the Braves.

The 'Cats and Braves traded some hard hits during the first quarter. The Braves' No. 23 Ryan Curtis brought down a Wildcat, followed by Wildcat No. 5 Fillipo Mokofisi bringing down Braves No. 5 Teau Satuala. Late in the first quarter, a third-down hit from Wildcat Sean Barton forced the Braves to punt. Wildcat No. 85 Nick Sefakis ran an 80-yard touchdown followed by a completed kick that put the Wildcats on the scoreboard 7-7.

Two minutes into the second quarter, Woods Cross fumbled the ball in the end-zone, and the Braves’ pick-up brought the score to 14-7. One minute later Braves' No. 67 T.J. Rock recovered another Wildcat fumble. Satuala scored his first touchdown of the night bringing the score to 20-7 after a missed two-point conversion. As the clock ran down on the first half, the Braves successfully kicked a field goal, bringing the score to 23-7.

With the second half underway, Zollinger tackled Barton, stalling the 'Cats run. On a Wildcat first down, Barton scored a touchdown, and then completed a pass from QB Skylar Farnes for the two-point conversion, adding eight points to the scoreboard. After a chop-block call against the Wildcats, the Braves got the ball inside the 20-yard line. When the Braves worked the ball up to the goal line, Satuala jumped over the players on the line into the end-zone, and the score was 30-15. On 4-and-10, the Wildcats brought on the kicking team and threw a fake punt. A flag on the play gave the Braves the ball at the 15-yard line, and they scored a touchdown on first down, ending the quarter at 37-15 for the Braves.

During the fourth quarter, Zollinger threw a 22-yard pass to Tanner Redding, resulting in a Braves touchdown, 44-15. The Wildcats fought to the 45-yard line, and with 3:57 left, Barton scored the final touchdown of the night, finalizing the score: Braves 44, Woods Cross 21.

Bountiful is next scheduled to play against Layton on Oct. 19 at 7 p.m.

Liesl Roberts is a senior at Woods Cross High, who loves to watch basketball, football and soccer.