Prep football: Box Elder defense tests Layton in 24-6 senior-night victory
Bees improve to 2-0 ahead of Golden Spike pairing with Bear River
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- Box Elder’s Judd Howells celebrates a touchdown during a nonregion football contest with Layton on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Brigham City.
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- Layton’s Solomon Lee, center 21, cuts through traffic during a nonregion football contest at Box Elder on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Brigham City.
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- Box Elder’s Jaxon Jeppsen, left 81, pressures Layton’s Lincoln Wilcox during a nonregion football contest on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Brigham City.
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- Layton’s Miles Neuteboom, center 38, follows through with a field goal attempt during a nonregion football contest at Box Elder on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Brigham City.
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- Box Elder’s Kadyn Reyes, center 16, calls out to his teammates prior to a snap during a nonregion football contest with Layton on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Brigham City.
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- Layton’s Tray McKinley, center 55, celebrates a sack during a nonregion football contest at Box Elder on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Brigham City.
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- Box Elder takes the field before a nonregion football contest with Layton on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Brigham City.
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- Team captains from Box Elder, left, and Layton come together before a nonregion football contest on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Brigham City.
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- Box Elder’s captains emerge for the coin toss before a nonregion football contest with Layton on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Brigham City.
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- Layton lines up alongside the sideline before a nonregion football contest at Box Elder on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Brigham City.
BRIGHAM CITY — A bit of extra weight fell on the high school football programs at Box Elder and Bear River as both programs kicked off the weekend with Week 2 home matchups.
The fatal shooting involving the death of two Tremonton police officers marred the week itself, leading up to Friday, and both programs honored the lives lost during their respective matchups — and will again at next weekend’s Golden Spike Game, which returns to Brigham City this fall.
Needless to say, there’d be some extra gumption behind the Bees when taking their field for their first home game of the season against nonregion foe Layton on Friday.
The theme for Box Elder coach Carson Mund was ‘prove it,’ and his team answered the call, leaning on hard-nosed junior Judd Howells for plenty of touches out of the backfield as the Bees outplayed the Lancers 24-6 on senior night.
Box Elder (2-0) and Layton (1-1) each assembled lopsided wins in Week 1, including a 64-0 shutout by the Bees at newly opened Deseret Peak in Tooele. Heading into Friday, Mund knew he and Layton coach Trevor Thomas would come into the contest hoping to succeed up front.
“We didn’t know where we were at last week after Deseret Peak — and I wish them the best, we just didn’t know where we were at,” Mund said. “We knew Layton’s going to come in and be physical, and we want to be a physical football team, dominate the line of scrimmage and run the football.”
The first quarter swayed in Layton’s favor right away, with the Bees spinning their wheels on the game’s opening drive and the Lancers striking first on a 70-yard punt returned for a touchdown by junior Carter Hughes.
Up 6-0 after Miles Neuteboom’s missed PAT, Layton received another break via Hughes, who intercepted Box Elder starter Kadyn Reyes to set the Lancer offense up near midfield. But Layton squandered the takeaway, with Neuteboom missing a 30-yarder to come up empty.
Two inconsequential drives later, Layton gambled and failed when punter Preston DeWitt scrambled short of the stick on a fake-punt rush. Box Elder put the offense on the field with 2:42 left in the half and Howells marched his way into the endzone 1:30 later.
Layton senior quarterback Lincoln Wilcox hit Hughes with a deep shot a few plays into the subsequent drive before halftime. Looking for that 6 in the air, Wilcox threw into the hands of Box Elder sophomore Tegn Johnson, who came down with a crucial takeaway considering Layton received the second-half kickoff.
“The pendulum swing was a miscommunication on the (fake) punt right before the half,” Thomas said. “It just kind of went that way. Offensively, we went 20 to 20 a lot of times and missed a field goal or threw an interception into the end zone. Just some things we’ll clean up for next week.”
It wouldn’t the last for Wilcox. He was again picked off by Bees defensive end Jaxon Jeppsen, who took the rock roughly 30 yards to the house.
Jeppsen crept back to Wilcox later in the third quarter, pressuring Layton’s quarterback on fourth-and-short for an incomplete pass and a change in possession with 5:42 to play in the third quarter.
Reyes took to the ground on the next drive, carrying the ball nearly 50 yards to the enemy 15-yard line, resulting in a field goal by freshman Tytan Hupp, extending the home team’s lead to 17-6 atop the fourth quarter.
Squeezing in for a touchdown late, Reyes bumped that lead to 18 with just a few minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
The moment after the clock expired spoke for itself, with Box Elder clearing bleachers and fences to celebrate with their home crowd. The team quickly made their way to the locker room, too, celebrating what Jeppsen considered a victory with a few layers to it.
“It’s a big morale booster after the events that happened last week,” Jeppsen said. “It’s huge for the team going forward into the season, having a big win like this over a 6A school. It’ll help us stay confident and believe in what we can do as a team.”
But next week’s test isn’t lost on Jeppsen and the Bees. Bear River comes to town fresh off a 77-0 thrashing of Cottonwood in Friday’s home opener in Garland. Jeppsen knows Bears starting quarterback Jaxson Theurer personally and what he brings to BR’s offense.
“We’re going to have to play good defense like we did tonight,” Jeppsen said.
The Golden Spike Game is slated for Thursday, Aug. 28. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. in Brigham City.
Connect with reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.
