Bonneville keeps region title hopes alive with 49-42 shootout win over Northridge
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- Northridge High’s Easton Gertge (2) runs the football as Bonneville’s Ryan Park (19) pursues during a game Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, in Washington Terrace.
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- Bonneville’s Kord Shaw (14) runs a kick return that became a touchdown early in a game against Northridge on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, in Washington Terrace.
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- Bonneville High students cheer and throw chalk during a game against Northridge on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, in Washington Terrace.
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- Northridge quarterback Maximus Fonoti-Maikui reaches back to throw against Bonneville on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, in Washington Terrace.
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- Bonneville’s Kord Shaw (14) runs to face Northridge’s Maximus Fonoti-Maikui (13) on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, in Washington Terrace.
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- Northridge running back A.J. Tillman (6) fights off a Bonneville defender Friday, Oct 1, 2021, in Washington Terrace.
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- Bonneville quarterback Koy Dixon (4) rolls out against Northridge on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, in Washington Terrace.
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- Northridge running back A.J. Tillman (6) sprints for a touchdown against Bonneville on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, in Washington Terrace.
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- Bonneville receiver Jordan Jacquez runs with the football against Northridge on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, in Washington Terrace.
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- Northridge receiver Zach Smith (19) tries to fight off a Bonneville defender on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, in Washington Terrace.
WASHINGTON TERRACE — Hopefully, fans’ seatbelts were fastened and their hands were inside the vehicle at kickoff of Friday’s big Region 5 showdown between Northridge and Bonneville.
Because if they weren’t, the whiplash would’ve been severe. And if it wasn’t whiplash from all the early touchdowns the teams scored, then it was sort of like sitting at center court of a professional tennis match.
The two well-acquainted schools, but only in the same region this year for the first time since 1996, put up three touchdowns in the first two minutes of the game and scored 57 combined points in a first half that took 87 minutes to complete.
Bonneville led Northridge 29-28 at the break in two quarters that had enough in them to fill up an entire game’s worth of scoring and lead changes.
There were still two quarters left, and the Lakers held firm in to win a 49-42 shootout over the Knights to keep Bonneville’s slim region title hopes alive.
They gave the ball to quarterback Koy Dixon pretty exclusively in the game, especially the second half. The senior delivered, scoring two second-half touchdowns to complete long, clock-burning drives and slim the Knights’ comeback chances.
“Good football game between two good teams. Not a whole lot of defense, it was exciting at times, but a lot of scoring. It was fun, know what I mean?” BHS coach Jantz Afuvai said.
The Bonneville (4-4, 3-1 Region 5) seniors, some of whom have started since they were sophomores, had big nights. Carson Jones, who’s been out since August with a knee injury, had a first-half touchdown catch, a second-half TD run and a second-half intercepton.
Kord Shaw, an Oregon State verbal commit, ran a kickoff back for touchdown early in the first quarter, caught a tough TD pass late in the first half and had a big sack.
Northridge (6-2, 3-1) scored first on a five-play, 80-yard drive that took only 1 minute, 29 seconds off the clock. Maximus Fonoti-Maikui, a Utah State commit, threw a 14-yard scoring pass to a wide-open Josh Acord.
It took 14 seconds for Bonneville to respond via Shaw’s 96-yard kickoff return TD. The Knights came back with a two-play, 65-yard scoring drive to go up 14-7.
Both plays were runs for AJ Tillman, who scored from 36 yards out with the clock reading just 9:59 left in the first quarter.
Dixon ran in from a yard out and also ran in a two-point conversion for a 15-14 Bonneville lead — and still with 3 minutes left in the first quarter.
At 7:40 p.m., or 40 minutes after kickoff, the first quarter finally ended. It only brought a similar second quarter, which in some way was to be expected in a game featuring two up-tempo offenses with one, the Knights, throwing almost two-thirds of the time.
Around this same time, Fonoti-Maikui was working with a coach on the Northridge sideline and practicing simple throws, occasionally grimacing, flexing his throwing hand (right) and saying he had trouble squeezing the ball.
It was hard to tell on the next drive that it affected him. Fonoti-Maikui delivered a perfect pass to Zach Smith on a first down play, then lofted a 33-yard pass to Acord down the sideline to convert fourth-and-14, one of a handful of athletic catches the 6-foot-3 receiver made along the sideline Friday night.
Fonoti-Maikui then put the Knights ahead 22-15 with a short TD pass to Tillman before running in a two-point conversion.
Sticking with Friday’s theme, the Lakers responded quickly in four plays encompassing 80 yards and taking just 60 seconds off the clock. Dixon lofted a 13-yard TD pass to Carson Jones in the back corner for a tie game.
Fonoti-Maikui threw short to Acord, the Woods Cross transfer, on Northridge’s next drive and Acord turned it into a 39-yard catch-and-run. Fonoti-Maikui then dove in for a rushing score and a 28-22 lead after the Lakers blocked the extra point with 3:04 left on the clock — which, as most people knew by then, was way too much time for either offense.
With a defender draped on his back, Shaw caught a 29-yard TD pass in the corner of the end zone for Bonneville on the Lakers’ ensuing drive for the 29-28 halftime lead.
Another theme that developed in the game was penalties against the Lakers. They were called for so many penalties that after a 20-yard Dixon TD run to put BHS up 35-28 in the third quarter, Lakers center Hayden Morris did a 360-degree scan of the backfield to search for flags before joining the celebration.
Jones picked off Fonoti-Maikui on Northridge’s next drive, then finished the ensuing Bonneville drive with a 10-yard run for a 42-28 lead on a drive that took nearly 5 minutes off the clock.
Tillman ran in for a TD for the Knights to cut the lead to 42-35 on a drive that Acord made an athletic, long catch on fourth down to keep the offense on the field.
By this time, Bonneville had settled on its gameplan and everyone in the stadium knew what was coming, which was ironic given that’s how Thom Budge operated in his BHS coaching tenure. Just like Budge’s teams, the defense knew what was coming and couldn’t stop it: a direct snap to Dixon for a run.
“We had a lot of good blockers in front of him, we figure let’s get our guys out there in space and go get those first downs,” Afuvai said.
Dixon converted a fourth down on the Lakers’ next drive, then ran for a 13-yard touchdown and a 49-35 lead, taking a further 8 minutes, 10 seconds off the clock.
Northridge still had something left, a back corner fade pass to Acord for a 4-yard TD.
But Dixon converted yet another fourth down the next drive to end the game as well as keep Bonneville’s region title hopes alive, though those hopes are contingent on the same Knights winning next week against Bountiful, who clinched at least a share of the title by thumping Viewmont.