WASHINGTON TERRACE — Last week, the Bonneville High football offense was a magnificent machine, manufacturing a touchdown in every quarter, while the defense was dominant, not allowing a TD in a foray over Fremont.

While the Bonneville offense continued to click on Friday night against Woods Cross, it would be misleading to say the defense was a disaster when you analyze the Lakers’ 54-43 victory in a memorable Region 5 donnybrook.

After all, Woods Cross only led 28-27 after three quarters before the teams combined for six touchdowns in the final 12 minutes, when things went bonkers.

“We gotta come back and get this. We were down by a point. Then we picked it up. The line executed great,” Bonneville junior receiver Isaac Mansaray said. “It was only a point difference and we just kept playing and going hard. We just ran the ball and punched it in.”

Tifaga Havili was the runner who put Bonneville ahead to stay, 34-28, punching it in from 4 yards out early in the fourth quarter, capping a quick-strike drive that covered 66 yards in 1 minute, 32 seconds.

Then lightning struck — not in the same place twice, but all over the field.

Bonneville recovered a fumble on the kickoff and had the ball at the Woods Cross 28-yard line. Mansaray hauled in a 21-yard TD strike, barely in bounds, from quarterback Jaxon Johnson as the Lakers lit up the scoreboard twice in the first 3:14 of the fourth quarter and seemingly took command 40-28.

“The fumble (recovery) took us up two scores. Our defense on kickoff played great and got on top of the ball,” Mansaray said.

But Woods Cross countered to get within 40-35 midway through the fourth and boldly kicked off to Mansaray, who promptly returned it 95 yards for yet another touchdown, and Bonneville led 47-35 just 14 seconds later.

“Our coaches have faith and our guys did their assignments … blocked great,” Mansaray said. “The holes opened and I just hit it.”

Even though Woods Cross scored again, the Bonneville defense stepped up and Maximus Diaz had two interceptions in the final 5:03 of the game, including a pick-six for the final Laker points.

“Our defense has always been good. We trust our line; they extend everything. They make motion to throw off the offensive line and that helps our DBs so much,” Mansaray said. “Max is a crazy player. He has great speed and reads the field perfectly.”

Mansaray scored three touchdowns overall for Bonneville, two on receptions from Johnson and the kickoff return. Johnson threw a pair of touchdown passes (to Mansaray) and ran for a score.

Ashton Archuleta ran for two touchdowns that covered 104 yards alone, and just missed a third tally on a big kickoff return.

“Our coaches had a great game plan and our guys kept their heads up. Our quarterback delivered the ball where it needed to be and our line played great,” Mansaray said. “Special teams played wonderful … their blocking. They went over a lot of stuff at practice. The energy kept building; everyone was so hyped.”

The first half was a human highlight reel, with Mansaray and Archuleta taking curtain calls for the Lakers.

Three minutes into the game, Mansaray collected a pass from Johnson and raced 47 yards for a touchdown on the Lakers’ opening possession of the game.

Woods Cross punted on its first try and Mansaray returned the kick 51 yards, giving the Lakers a first down at the Wildcat 29 where Archuleta took center stage.

It only took Bonneville two plays to cash in when Archuleta bolted up the middle on a 24-yard TD scamper. The Lakers led 14-0 with 4:55 left in the period.

Woods Cross closed the gap to 14-7 but Archuleta returned the ensuing kickoff 87 yards to the Wildcat 1-yard line and Johnson scored on a keeper, boosting the lead to 20-7 for Bonneville near the end of the quarter.

In what quickly became a shootout, if the second half didn’t define it, Woods Cross scored again midway through the second quarter, closing the gap to 20-14 at the 7:22 mark.

The Wildcats avoided Archuleta by kicking the ball through the endzone, but no matter. On first down from the 20, Archuleta swung wide right and turned upfield for an 80-yard touchdown, almost untouched, as the edge mounted to 27-14 just 13 seconds later.

A Woods Cross score with 4 seconds left in the half made it 27-21 at the break.

Bonneville’s defense made the Wildcats work for their points. Two Woods Cross scoring drives took 13 and 12 plays to hit paydirt, and the Lakers created three turnovers overall.

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