Prep football playoffs: Rodriguez TD, Bushnell INT save Box Elder against inspired Maple Mountain
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- Box Elder’s Cayden Anderson dives for a touchdown against Maple Mountain in a 5A second-round game Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in Brigham City.
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- From left, Box Elder’s Ceder Olsen, Camren Davis and Cayden Anderson celebrate a touchdown against Maple Mountain in a 5A second-round game Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in Brigham City.
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- Box Elder’s Damon Rodriguez (5) rushes against Maple Mountain in a 5A second-round game Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in Brigham City.
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- Box Elder’s Daxton Sumko rushes the ball against Maple Mountain in a 5A second-round game Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in Brigham City.
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- Maple Mountain’s Easton Merrell (1) catches a touchdown pass over Box Elder’s Carter Buchanan (15) in a 5A second-round game Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in Brigham City.
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- Box Elder’s Gauge Carrigan (8) and Tyeson Hansen (12) break up a pass to Maple Mountain’s Easton Merrell (1) in a 5A second-round game Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in Brigham City.
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- Box Elder’s Damon Rodriguez, right, runs the ball against Maple Mountain in a 5A second-round game Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in Brigham City.
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- Box Elder’s Damon Rodriguez (5) runs the football against Maple Mountain in a 5A second-round game Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in Brigham City.
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- Box Elder’s Camren Davis (2) scores a touchdown against Maple Mountain in a 5A second-round game Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in Brigham City.
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- Maple Mountain quarterback Banks Jackson (5) rushes against Box Elder’s AJ Bushnell (3) in a 5A second-round game Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in Brigham City.
BRIGHAM CITY — AJ Bushnell broke his left leg in soccer season back on April 14 when he was shielding the ball from a defender, slipped on a muddy soccer field and had a bad landing.
Nearly seven months later, the Box Elder High senior jumped up on that still-not-100% leg, intercepted a deep pass from Maple Mountain quarterback Banks Jackson and wrestled the ball away from receiver Easton Merrell.
Bushnell’s second interception in Friday’s epic playoff game could be considered the play of the game as it ended No. 13 Maple Mountain’s potential game-tying touchdown drive, gave the No. 4 Bees (9-2) the ball back with 1:38 left and let them kneel out a 28-21 home win in the second round of the 5A state tournament.
“I don’t know, a little happy tears, I don’t know what’s going on,” quarterback Ryan Griffin said. “Proud of my guys. These guys have gone through a lot together, a lot of injuries, a lot of adversity. These guys stepped up when we needed them.”
There’s plenty of credit to go around.
Moments before Bushnell’s interception, Damon Rodriguez’s 17-yard, go-ahead touchdown run with 2:16 left also could’ve been considered the play of the game, as it returned the lead to a reeling Box Elder team against an inspired No. 13 Golden Eagles (6-6) side that had erased a 14-point deficit in a matter of seconds.
Running back Dax Sumko’s 3-yard run on a third-and-3 that preceded the go-ahead touchdown could’ve been considered the play of the game, as it was his eighth run out of nine plays to that point in the drive, all on a reaggravated, sprained right ankle.
And there’s credit left for two interceptions by Bushnell and one by Caden Buchanan to keep a dangerous Golden Eagles offense off the field.
All of it combined to see off an underseeded Maple Mountain team.
“Honestly, just happy for our players, happy for our coaches, just how much work and effort and time they’ve put in to try and get better. I’m just happy for them, excited, excited to be able to practice on Monday,” BE head coach Robbie Gunter said. “It’s just so good at this time of year.”
Griffin’s three first-half TD passes to Camren Davis, Cayden Anderson and Quinlan O’Neal gave the Bees a 21-7 halftime lead.
Defensively, the Bees had to deal with Maple Mountain’s speedy dual-threat quarterback Banks Jackson, who operated in an offense well-tailored for him.
“We definitely prepared in practice a bunch because we knew he was probably the best player we played all year, and we just try to find ways to keep him from breaking out big plays,” Bushnell said. “That’s why we had to go man (coverage) so our backers could keep him from escaping the pocket. Yeah, he’s an absolute phenomenal player.”
As dangerous and effective as Jackson was on the run, Box Elder crucially picked him off twice in the first half.
Buchanan picked off Banks late in the second quarter, leading to the O’Neal TD catch and a 21-7 lead.
After Jackson ran for 39 yards to get to Bees’ territory on the next drive, Bushnell picked him off with 1:10 left before the break. Box Elder tried to score — to go up potentially by 21 points with the second-half kickoff coming its way — but got stuck in a penalty quagmire and settled for the 21-7 halftime lead.
A 21-point lead in the third quarter would’ve likely been the end, but Maple was impossible to put away and Box Elder’s offense subsequently hit a wall.
Rodriguez, who was a huge part of the offense and special teams all night, fumbled on the Bees’ first drive of the second half and Griffin was intercepted on a tipped pass on their next drive.
Jackson trucked Sumko at the goal line and ran for a TD to get Maple within 21-14, completing a 67-yard drive in just 1 minute and 40 seconds.
The Bees went three-and-out with Griffin getting sacked on third down, Maple blocked the ensuing punt and took it to the Box Elder 10, scored to tie the game and the visiting crowd dominated the atmosphere.
“Man, we had a good drive before that, so kind of just made sure we were doing our own thing, not making dumb decisions, staying with what we know how to do,” Griffin said.
It was a tenuous spot for the Bees, but they ultimately gathered themselves for the critical drive.
“The focus this week was on how do you respond to good things, how do you respond to negative things? You just keep using that positive response every time you can, and that’s difficult,” Gunter said.
“That’s difficult when you feel like the world’s against you and that was actually a lot of fun. I was surprised, (Maple Mountain) had a great crowd here, they were hyped right there in that fourth quarter.”
So what happened in the Bees’ gut-check moment? They went to Sumko up the middle, their bread and butter that had yielded the senior 1,559 rushing yards in the regular season.
Maple stacked the box to stop the inside run game of Sumko, sometimes fielding five down linemen, leading the Bees to run a bunch of Rodriguez sweeps, receiver screens, double handoffs and pass plays.
Crunch time called for No. 31. He was sitting next to the phone when it rang.
Box Elder gave Sumko the ball eight of the first nine plays of its next drive, and he ran for 24, 16, 6, 2, 3, 4 and 3 yards, then finally, another 3-yard gain on third-and-3 that, after an official measurement, gained a first down by about a centimeter.
Rodriguez, who’d needed help off the field multiple times after sustaining big hits, swept to the right for the go-ahead, 17-yard score on the next play.
With 2:16 left and Maple starting at its own 35, everyone knew there was too much time left for Jackson and company to tie the game.
The Bees couldn’t touch Jackson in the pass rush all night and could only “stop” him for 1- or 2-yard gains.
On Maple’s first play, Merrell dropped a wide-open touchdown pass deep down the left side. Two plays later, Jackson went back to him deep down the left side but this time, Bushnell came down with the jump ball.
It was all but over at that point, except the Bees still had to run clock. They gave it to Sumko — who else? — for runs of 2, 7 and, finally, 12 yards to send Box Elder through to next week’s home quarterfinal against No. 5 Olympus (7-3).
The quarterfinals have a bitter ring to them. As a No. 9 seed last year, the Bees almost upset No. 1 Lehi on the road, losing 28-21 at the end.
“We gotta keep playing hard. Can’t allow us to get complacent right here with this win, can’t allow that to be — gotta keep playing our ball,” Griffin said. “We know last year was tough. We should’ve, I mean, we could’ve won that. We don’t want anymore coulda’s, we want to be able to go do our thing and go win it.”
Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.