LAYTON — Earlier this week, a local television station decided to broadcast Friday’s Bountiful-Northridge football game because it looked like great theater.

Unfortunately for the Knights, it turned out more like a made-for-TV horror movie.

Bountiful took full advantage of nearly every Northridge misstep – as the Knights constantly shot themselves in the foot — and rolled to the Region 5 championship with a blockbuster 59-14 victory.

A Northridge (6-3, 3-2 Region 5) win would have created a logjam at the top of the league standings, but the Redhawks (6-2, 5-0) were not about to let that happen.

“We wanted it more than they did. We didn’t want to share the region, we wanted it for our own for the first time in nine years,” Bountiful junior running back Corbin Cottle said. “First time for the Redhawks. We’re glad to make that tradition and make that happen for the Redhawks.”

Cottle rushed for a trio of first-half touchdowns as the Redhawks raced to a 40-7 halftime lead.

“My offensive line, they’re all just studs. You can’t expect anything less from them,” Cottle said. “They ball out every day, get good pushes. We came with the mentality that we were going to control the line of scrimmage and we did.”

Quarterback Owen Geilman threw a 22-yard strike to Truman Duryea and scored on a 1-yard keeper in the third quarter as Bountiful’s lead ballooned to 53-7.

Between the heavy rain in the second half and Bountiful taking its foot off the gas, the Redhawks’ final TD came on a 3-yard run by Collin Moore with 9:27 remaining in the final frame.

Seth Nowlin scored his second rushing touchdown of the game for Northridge as time ran out and the curtain came down on the 59-14 blowout.

Things started poorly for Northridge on its opening possession when starting quarterback Maximus Fonoti-Maikui lost a fumble, was injured on the play with 9:02 left in the first quarter and did not return to the game.

It just got worse from there, as the Knights imploded on nearly every following possession. It is arduous to detail their maladies, but here is what happened the rest of the half, after the early turnover.

A Knight punt went out of bounds on their own 23.

After a bad snap put the ball inside the 5, a desperation pass was intercepted by Bountiful’s Carson Webster and returned to the Northridge 3.

Bountiful’s Jordan Walton returned a Northridge fumble 7 yards for a touchdown.

Another punt went out of bounds at the Northridge 28.

Jacob Brooks recorded a safety for Bountiful with a tackle in the end zone, which then resulted in a Bountiful possession that started at the Northridge 41.

Finally, a fumbled punt gave Bountiful a first-and-10 at the Northridge 15.

In a nutshell, Bountiful’s other touchdowns came on Cottle’s three runs of 29, 3 and 1 yards. Drew Bowles rushed for a 2-yard score and Ben Smith knocked through a 42-yard field goal and five extra points.

Nowlin was the only bright spot for the Knights, scoring on a 9-yard touchdown run with 4:52 left in the half.

All told, Bountiful had a massive 40-7 lead at the break.

“Honestly, the rain came in, the ball was slippery. It’s just sometimes how the cookie crumbles,” Cottle said. “I think our defensive line was firing off. I know (Northridge is) a great team because we’ve been watching film, and they’ve played better than that before, but it’s just how it goes sometimes.”

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