1 / 6

Box Elder’s Judd Howells, right, and Landon Harding celebrate a touchdown during a 5A playoff football game against West Field on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, in Brigham City.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

2 / 6

Box Elder’s Kadyn Reyes, left, receives a block from teammate Tazon Neal, middle #2, holding back West Field’s Corbin Price during a 5A playoff football game against West Field on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, in Brigham City.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

3 / 6

West Field’s Easton Eilertson steps up to the line of scrimmage during a 5A playoff football game against Box Elder on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, in Brigham City.

4 / 6

Box Elder’s Judd Howells, middle #0, charges through traffic during a 5A playoff football game against West Field on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, in Brigham City.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

5 / 6

West Field’s Sam Smith powers through a pack of Bees during a 5A playoff football game against Box Elder on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, in Brigham City.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

6 / 6

West Field and Box Elder line up during a 5A playoff football game on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, in Brigham City.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

❮ ❯

BRIGHAM CITY — Box Elder football coach Carson Mund is right where he wants to be.

For a second time in two weeks, the No. 6 Bees proved themselves the more frightening program against No. 11 West Field in a 35-13 decision, winning at home Friday in a Halloween-spirited 5A playoff contest.

Junior quarterback Kadyn Reyes didn’t register Box Elder’s first touchdown through the air until the end of the first half, and for good reason.

Judd Howells (four touchdowns) infuriated the Longhorns — who improved to 7-5 with their first postseason win in school history last week during the second season of the Eric Jones era — throughout a one-sided first half that got away from the visitors by the second quarter.

Mund and the Bees hung a 27-point win at West Field to the end regular season and felt especially confident about the 5A bracket reveal that same weekend.

“Adding some wrinkles and doing some things differently, it was a good feeling to get the win,” Mund said.

Box Elder, improving to 9-2 on Halloween night, will meet No. 3 Springville (9-1) on the road Friday, Nov. 7, in the quarterfinals.

Howells, Box Elder’s workhorse running back, stayed true to his reputation set during that 39-12 region win over West Field.

A seemingly positive start to West Field’s game-opening drive went south on a near fumble by Longhorns quarterback Easton Eilertson, and ultimately left the road team without points on a missed 35-yard field goal attempt by receiver-kicker Jaden Fowers.

The Bees capitalized on that turnover, resulting in a 2-yard touchdown run by Howells, and again off an Elijah Woods fumble on the second play of West Field’s second drive. That turnover, forced out by Box Elder junior defensive tackle Caleb Cefalo, prompted another short-yardage scamper for a two-score lead mere moments later.

Up 14-nil through the first quarter, Box Elder stuck to a ground attack that received little to no pushback through the first 12 minutes. Senior Logan Cefalo, doubling at linebacker and running back this season for the Bees, rotated into the backfield and didn’t disappoint with a 26-yard ground-pound touchdown that dragged two defenders into the end zone with him.

“That’s a Cam Skattebo-type run right there,” Mund said. “Just breaking tackles and wasn’t going to be denied. We came out up, out of the gate. Offensively, we played well; Defensively, lights out until the last part of the fourth quarter, I guess. We’ve just gotten back to the fundamentals.

“You know, during the season, you’re prioritizing other things rather than things you did Day 1, so we were able to go back to some of those things and I think it’s benefited our kids.”

Even so, West Field got two chances at the scoreboard as the second quarter came to a close.

A Kolt Abbott first-down catch, and a chunk, second-down scramble by Eilertson, set up third-and-manageable for the Longhorns with a couple of minutes to work with, but Eilertson missed his target for a third turnover — separated only by punts at the end of the first quarter and on their first drive of the second.

The Bees waltzed into halftime up 28-0 on Reyes’ first touchdown pass to senior Maddox Earnest for 23 yards. The halftime shutout came with yet another stop on West Field’s final drive, which featured a deep connection from Eilertson to Fowers clear to the Bees 26-yard line, but still yielded no points at the break.

Box Elder extended its lead to 35 on the first drive back in the second half; Howells racked up 39 yards racing for a third rushing touchdown in his postseason debut. West Field managed both a stop, and its first score (an 18-yard throw from Eilertson to Fowers) to begin the fourth quarter. Junior Gavin Ortegon, making a barrel catch in the end zone on the Longhorns’ next drive, added six more points as the clock hit zero.

With a running clock, West Field’s closing scoring drive had no effect on the outcome, but Jones planted himself near midfield to shake every Longhorn’s hand following the program’s first winning season in school history.

“Big picture-wise, I just want all the kids to understand that I appreciate the time and effort they put into it,” Jones said. “They sacrifice a lot of their personal time, they could be doing other things and they chose to be part of this team. For some of these guys, they don’t get to play a whole lot and some of them get to play more, but I don’t look at them through that lens. …

“It’s humbling to know you’ve got people that’re willing to take a chance with you to start something new.”

Connect with reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.