This summer, the Scots stayed home. They wanted to see where they were as a team in June and wanted to see better competition, so they held camp practices at BLHS and scrimmaged against Clearfield and Farmington.

The Scots felt good about how they played against the bigger schools and ended their final camp practice with a 30-minute period marked by a visible uptick in intensity.

“We’ve got to have high-intensity practices, we’ve got to push each other, best on best, 100% every practice,” senior lineman Jake East said.

The tenor around the Ben Lomond program is usually optimistic in the summer. Most times over the decades, it’s been smoke and mirrors.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

This year, the Scots sense more substance in their setup.

“Everyone’s coming to compete, no one’s slacking, everyone’s excited and they want to be here,” senior lineman Miguel Santos said.

It’s probably a long shot for anyone to say the Scots are going to win a region or state championship in 2023. But do better than 3-8? Improve from scoring an average of 14.6 points per game and allowing 33.2 per game? Have a winning season or win a playoff game for the first time in 23 years?

“That’s all it is right now, is an opportunity. We’ve got to now put it into action,” head coach Lyndon Johnson said.

Ben Lomond returns most starters on both sides and it’s a talented group, led by East. He started playing football just last year and now has an offer from Washington State.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

The Scots have about two dozen seniors among around 70 players in the program, both of which are big numbers for them. Some seniors are multi-year starters, and age overall stands out.

“They’re stronger, they’re older, we want to leave a mark and I think we’ve got an opportunity to do that,” Johnson said. “We’ve never been old. In the four years I’ve been here, we’ve never had more than 10-12 seniors, we’ve always been young in a lot of key spots.”

East, Santos and Rohan Green return on the offensive line. Luke Wharton moves to offensive line after an 11-sack season on the D-line.

“I think we’ll be able to run the ball better just because we’re better up front,” Johnson said.

The receiving group is loaded and led by seniors Davian Muñoz, Hunter Christensen, Jaxon Watson and Aunese Tuatagaloa, a quartet that also comprises the defensive secondary.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

Tuatagaloa is the team’s best cover corner but had surgery in May to address a non-football issue, has sat out all summer and his status is unclear for next week’s season opener against Kanab.

Running back Charlie Thornblad returns, as does sophomore back Jerone Nash, whose two rushing scores came in the final three games of the season.

Sophomore quarterback Manase Tuatagaloa returns after a good debut season as a freshman, and he’s been hard at work in the offseason.

“I have to read the defenses better and just be a better teammate to everyone, and to bring everyone’s heads up, boost the morale. I think that’s important for a quarterback to do,” he said.

Ben Lomond likes to spread things out on offense and has enough talent to win 1-on-1 battles, but the line has to give Manase Tuatagaloa enough time to let the one-on-one battles play.

With a mostly one-running back set, there’s heavy emphasis on receivers blocking well.

Defensively, the Scots are changing things. Johnson said they have enough defensive linemen to go to a four-down front and they’ll use a hybrid linebacker/defensive end, which will likely be Manase Tuatagaloa.

The program still has its same issues of depth, participation and ineligibility. Most starters play both ways, so an injury to one player usually takes out two starters, and the Scots can’t afford injuries up front.

It’s a constant battle that Ben Lomond, Ogden and very few other schools in the state fight.

Johnson said the coaches went door to door to certain kids’ homes in the school boundary to try and pick up a few extra players. The program ended up around 70 in camp in June. Some days, 70 show up and other days it’s around 55.

A dozen or so transfers Ben Lomond’s taken in from Weber and Fremont boundaries in recent years have helped the team get to 70 kids this summer.

“I feel like it’s good for us. Like, around this area, there’s not that many kids that want to play football,” Santos said.

This year’s team has slowly built up since a 1-10 season in 2021. Good seasons themselves are about a once-in-15-year occurrence at Ben Lomond, almost like a once-in-a-generation.

In late June as it went through its final camp practice, offensive coordinator Nate Tuatagaloa demanded the team raise its intensity. The final 30 minutes of practice that day were loud, feisty and intense, underscoring the Scots’ desire to take advantage of the chance they have.

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“I try to run through them, I can’t let them hurt me. We gotta be the aggressors,” lineman Jake East said.

FACTS and FIGURES

2022 season: 3-8, 0-5 3A North. The Scots were 3-2 in non-region, then went 0-5 in region play, only coming close against Ogden in the Iron Horse. They lost 28-7 at North Sanpete in the first round of the playoffs.

2023 strength of schedule: 56-57 (.496).

Returning starters: 9 offense, 9 defense.

Strength/Weakness: Experience/Depth.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Jake East, SR., DL/OL: East has one official offer from Washington State, despite just playing football for the first time last season. East had 12 tackles for loss and 10 sacks last season.

Manase Tuatagaloa, SO., QB/LB/DE: As a freshman, he threw for 2,097 yards, 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on a 56.9% completion rate. He’s expected to play a hybrid linebacker/defensive end role on defense.

Aunese Tuatagaloa, SR., DB/WR: In eight games, he had 69 total tackles with three interceptions, seven passes defended and three forced fumbles.

Miguel Santos, SR., OL/DL: Santos will be a three-year starter and is a huge part of both sides of the ball.

Davian Muñoz, SR., WR/DB: Muñoz led the team with 691 receiving yards and five TDs to go with three interceptions and 47 total tackles.

Hunter Christensen, SR., WR/DB: Christensen had a team-high of 53 catches, along with 611 receiving yards and three TDs.

Omar Murillo, SR., K: Murillo was a perfect 18 for 18 on extra points and was 8 for 11 on field goals, with a long kick of 50 yards last season.

Haidynn Burdette, SR., LB: He had 81 total tackles with five tackles for loss, four sacks and one interception patrolling the middle.

DID YOU KNOW?

Ben Lomond’s last winning season and last playoff win both came in 2000.

All-time record against this year’s opponents: 0-0 against Kanab, 1-2 against Mountain View, 2-1 against Evanston (WY), 0-0 against Canyon View, 0-2 against American Leadership Academy, 1-13 against Grantsville, 1-27 against Morgan, 3-13 against Union, 0-7 against Juan Diego and 22-53 against Ogden.

SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN

The non-region schedule is hard to forecast. The Scots start against defending 1A runner-up Kanab, which runs a Wing-T offense and returns most of its starters.

Then, they host a downtrodden 4A Mountain View team that bagged wins of 49-10 and 45-7 over BL when they were both in 4A Region 10 in 2019 and 2020.

They head to Evanston (Wyoming) in Week 3, and the teams have alternated one-point wins the last two years. But this is the Red Devils’ season opener and they have a new head coach.

The most difficult non-region game is at 3A Canyon View in Week 4. The Falcons went 8-4 last year, their best season in school history, and return most of their best players.

Finally, BL hosts 2A American Leadership Academy, which went 0-11 and was outscored 582-63 last year but has a new head coach this season.

The part of the schedule that’s easy to forecast is region play. Ben Lomond opens the region at Grantsville and at Morgan, or basically at Alabama and at Georgia.

The Iron Horse is at Ben Lomond this year, this time on a Thursday instead of a Wednesday.

SCHEDULE

All games 7 p.m.

Aug. 11: Kanab

Aug. 18: Mountain View

Aug. 25: at Evanston (WY)

Sept. 1: at Canyon View

Sept. 8: American Leadership Academy

Sept. 15: at Grantsville*

Sept: 22: at Morgan*

Sept: 29: Union*

Oct. 6: at Juan Diego*

Thurs., Oct. 12: Ogden*, 5 p.m., Iron Horse Game

* — Denotes 3A North region game

Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.