Prep football: Sumko rushes for 4 TDs, Box Elder off to first 4-0 start since 2003
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- Box Elder’s Mason Jeppsen, left, and Carter Buchanan celebrate a fumble recovery against Northridge on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, at Weber High in Pleasant View.
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- Box Elder’s Dax Sumko runs the football against Northridge on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, at Weber High in Pleasant View.
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- Northridge’s Porter Olsen (16) throws a pass as Box Elder’s Bodee Burnham (30) rushes on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, at Weber High in Pleasant View.
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- Box Elder’s Damon Rodriguez carries the ball against Northridge on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, at Weber High in Pleasant View.
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- Northridge’s Malu Lumpkins (1) battles Box Elder’s Gauge Carrigan (8), Caden Buchanan (48) and an unknown tackler on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, at Weber High in Pleasant View.
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- Northridge’s Braxton Barber runs the football against Box Elder on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, at Weber High in Pleasant View.
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- Box Elder’s Jay Macias lines up with his team for a kickoff against Northridge on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, at Weber High in Pleasant View.
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- Box Elder’s Damon Rodriguez carries the ball against Northridge on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, at Weber High in Pleasant View.
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- Box Elder cheerleaders cheer at a football game against Northridge on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, at Weber High in Pleasant View.
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- Northridge’s Braxton Barber corrals a Box Elder kick on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, at Weber High in Pleasant View.
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- Northridge’s Chase Harris runs with the football against Box Elder on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, at Weber High in Pleasant View.
PLEASANT VIEW — At the 9:31 mark of the second quarter with a 13-0 lead, Box Elder ran the ball on fourth-and-1 in Northridge territory.
Running backs Dax Sumko and Mason Jeppsen had already gashed the Knights’ defense, so the play call seemed logical.
Northridge got the stop it had been searching for and finally got a chance to back in a game it already trailed by two scores.
Two minutes and 12 seconds later, and after a Knights three-and-out, Sumko ran in for a 30-yard score and the chance of a close game vanished.
Sumko ran for four touchdowns, the Bees forced three turnovers and their defense stifled an outmatched Northridge team in a 42-12 win to open Region 5 play in a game played at Weber High School.
The game was a meet-in-the-middle “home game” for Box Elder, whose new artificial turf field isn’t yet complete, but it was more like meet in the end zone as the Bees (4-0, 1-0 Region 5) marched to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2003.
Late in the game, the school band fittingly played the Imperial March tune from Star Wars.
“Honestly, you gotta credit the line again because they just did their job, they kicked butt. They were incredible and I think we matched up really well, as well all-around,” Sumko said.
This one came after losing starting offensive lineman Dylan Riggs on the first offensive play of the game to injury and after incurring several penalties on offense throughout the night, but neither significantly altered the end result.
Northridge (2-2, 0-1) fumbled a short opening kickoff and the Bees recovered at the Knights’ 37-yard line. After the first offensive play, Riggs stayed down injured and was carted off with a cast on his left leg.
“These guys did a really good job. (The injury) took me. That gets this guy right — gets me right in the old heart,” Box Elder coach Robbie Gunter said. “Football’s the greatest game, but when that happens, it just hurts a lot.”
“He’s a big-time player,” Sumko said about Riggs. “Varsity player last year, two of the five returners (on the offensive line), so that sucks. That’s going to be, looking forward, that’s going to be hard for us.”
Sumko, who grew up playing little league football in the North Ogden area, scored a 1-yard TD run to end the opening drive and scored on another 1-yard run to give the Bees a 13-0 lead after one quarter.
The Knights stopped Sumko on the second-quarter fourth down, but the Bees subsequently sacked Northridge quarterback Porter Olsen and forced a punt.
Jeppsen ran for 47 yards on the first play of the next drive and Sumko ran 30 more on the next play for a 20-0 lead. Ethan Barber made a 26-yard field goal for a 23-0 lead before Northridge’s Malu Lumpkins took a screen pass 11 yards for a TD with 54 seconds left until halftime.
Sumko got TD No. 4 with a 13-yard run late in the third. Box Elder forced and recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and quarterback Ryan Griffin found Damon Rodriguez for a 22-yard, catch-and-run score and a 36-6 lead.
Last season, Sumko had 279 of the team’s 509 rushing attempts. Coming into Friday, Sumko had 46 rushes, Jeppsen had 32 and Rodriguez 23.
“Last year we were 3-1 at this point and now we’re 4-0 and our offense is putting up 40 points a game on average almost,” Sumko said. “I mean, you gotta credit that all three of us are getting the ball evenly. It’s giving me time to play some defense, which is awesome, I didn’t get a chance to do that much last year.”
Ceder Olsen pushed for a 1-yard Box Elder score after Nathan Pugsley intercepted a tipped Northridge pass.
Knights backup quarterback Michael Marriott ran for a 1-yard score with 2:38 left in the game against the backup defense.
Overall, the Box Elder defense kept a high-potential Northridge passing attack in check. Knights receivers and running backs were often tackled by multiple Bees defenders.
“Their guys throw the ball well, they do a good job,” Gunter said. “You can’t get to the quarterback because they get it out so quick, so guys just had to stay disciplined, they could move it a little bit — our guys just stay disciplined, did what they were supposed to do.”
Northridge was down two starting linemen as well as its punter. Porter Olsen filled in as punter, and his first-half punts went 56, 67, 53 and 42 yards.
Despite effectively flipping the field multiple times, the Knights’ defense couldn’t get off the field. But that wasn’t the main problem, head coach Andrew Fresques said.
“We’ve got to be able to be mentally tough. I saw us even in the first quarter hanging our heads. It’s the first quarter, we have to got to work on the mental game just as much as the physical game,” he said.
Friday marked the start of what’s expected to be a competitive seven-game region schedule. Northridge hosts Viewmont next week after the Vikings nearly upset Bountiful on the road. Box Elder has a quick turnaround: Thursday at Roy in KJZZ’s weekly televised game.
“This region makes it easy because you turn around after one game and you’ve got another, just a juggernaut ready to play. You can’t look past them or you’re in trouble,” Gunter said.
Being undefeated at this point in the season doesn’t do much for anyone’s end-of-season goals. It does give the team some confidence to know that what it’s doing has been successful, Gunter said.
It also puts some pressure on the team, which figures to increase the deeper it goes with a zero in the loss column, but Sumko said the team wants that pressure.
Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.
