After jumping out to a 28-0 lead at the half, it looked as though the Warriors (2-2) were going to cruise to victory, but the Vikings (3-1) had other plans and nearly came back.

Up 28-22 with just over a minute to go in the game, and faced with third-and-long from the 46-yard line, Weber made sure to put the ball in the hands of Parker, one of the most dynamic players in the state.

It seemed Parker would either get the first down and the game would be over, or Viewmont would be forced to use their last timeout with a stop, and the Warriors could try to pin them back deep and rely on their defense (one that already had two goal-line stands) to win the game for them.

Neither happened.

Parker took the handoff and ran around the edge, where he was faced with a horde of Viking defenders. Yet somehow, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound running back powered and squeezed his way through — then ran untouched into the end zone with 1 minute left in the game.

“It’s an amazing feeling running into the end zone like that,” Parker said. “The game was crazy, and I just put my head down, made sure I secured the ball and kept moving and things opened up for me. All the credit goes to my teammates. Everyone executed and I couldn’t have done it without them.”

“I had the perfect view of Dyson’s run,” added Weber head coach Mo Cannon with a big smile. “He’s special and so talented; it was amazing to see him do that and put the game away.”

While nothing beats a game-sealing touchdown drive to win, Cannon said he’d still prefer wins that didn’t come down to the wire like that.

“We played really well at the start and had a lot of fun, but towards the end there, I wasn’t having fun. … I was a nervous wreck,” Cannon said. “But I’m proud of our guys and the fight to the finish. They didn’t give up and they played 48 minutes of football like we asked them to do.”

Viewmont had allowed a combined seven points in its past two games. For Weber, it took less than 20 seconds to get on the scoreboard as the Warriors ran a flea flicker on the second play to quickly go up 7-0. Payne, a sophomore, connected with sophomore receiver DeVries who caught the pass and ran untouched for a 74-yard touchdown.

“We’ve been practicing that all week and knew that was going to be called on our first drive, and we executed it perfectly,” Payne said. “Creed and I have been playing together since we were little kids and we have that connection. He’s a playmaker and a big part of this team.”

“That sophomore connection is a scary duo,” Cannon added. “They get better each and every day, and we couldn’t be more excited about those two.”

For the game, Payne finished with 271 passing yards and three touchdowns. DeVries pulled in 193 of those passing yards and all three touchdowns, while Parker racked up 205 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

On defense, Linken Huston and Carson Hill each had one interception for Weber and Lincoln Henry had a team-high eight tackles.

Weber improves to 2-2 on the season and takes its two-game winning streak on the road to face Lehi in the Warriors’ final nonregion game.