Battle for the Bell: Eilertson’s 6 TD passes lead West Field in 41-23 trouncing of Roy
Longhorns, Royals break in new rivalry with locally-tied coaches
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- West Field’s Easton Eilertson, center, winds up a pass to Gavin Ortegon, left, during home region contest vs. Roy on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- West Field’s Jaden Fowers, left, and Gavin Ortegon, right, celebrate a touchdown during a home region contest vs. Roy on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- Roy’s Drayden Esplin, left, and West Field’s Grady Call, right, line up together during a region football contest on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- Roy’s Howie Howard, left, and Rock Speredon await the snap during a road region contest at West Field on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- Roy’s Ryker Cordero, center, collides with West Field’s Cooper Roundy during a region football contest on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- West Field’s Jaden Fowers is jubilant during home region contest vs. Roy on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- West Field’s Corbin Price, left, and Cooper Roundy, wrap Roy’s Ryker Cordero, during a region football contest on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- Roy’s Howie Howard, center, weaves through traffic during a road region contest at West Field on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- West Field’s Tyson Clarke and Ryker Jensen gather themselves on third down Easton Eilertson, center, winds up a pass to Gavin Ortegon, left, during home region contest vs. Roy on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- West Field’s Easton Eilertson tosses over Roy’s Carsten Engberg for Elijah Woods during home region contest vs. Roy on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- Roy’s Rock Speredon is brought down by West Field’s Isaiah Rodridgues during a region football contest on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- West Field’s Elijah Woods burst through a defender Easton Eilertson, center, winds up a pass to Gavin Ortegon, left, during home region contest vs. Roy on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- West Field coach Eric Jones speaks with his team during home region contest vs. Roy on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
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- Jaden Fowers, flag, leads West Field onto the field before a home region contest vs. Roy on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Taylor.
TAYLOR — Weber County’s newest football rivalry is here, and West Field sophomore quarterback Easton Eilertston put his signature on his first-ever meeting with Roy High, completing a career-high six touchdown passes in a 41-23 win on Friday night at home.
What’s been dubbed the “Battle for the Bell” — a moniker which includes a literal bell sourced from a nearby schoolhouse and awarded to the winning school — belongs to West Field in the first edition of the gridiron game played for the first time this weekend in Taylor.
It’s only appropriate that two longtime Roy High guys, fourth-year Roy head coach Chris Solomona and second-year West Field coach Eric Jones, are the ones in charge of their respective programs. Jones is a Roy alum, the pair coached together under Roy favorite Fred Fernandes, and they continue that pace today as opposing head coaches.
“That’s one of my best friends in the world,” Jones said of Solomona. “Born and raised in Roy, I was part of that program for a long time, and I know exactly what they’re going through. It’s hard, but I have a lot of admiration and respect for those guys.”
Eilertson matched a season-high five touchdown passes late in the third quarter as the Longhorns (3-1) rolled away from a Royals (0-4) team marred by injuries and roster fatigue following a state runner-up campaign a year ago.
Jones noted how quickly his young quarterback has bloomed since earning the starting job this summer.
“In the offseason, you see these kids and you don’t really know how they’re going to pan out in live competition, but holy cow, he’s been really special for a sophomore,” Jones said. “It’s been cool to watch and I’m really proud of him, and glad he’s a Longhorn.”
A year ago, West Field endured a one-win inaugural season with a gauntlet 4A Region 11 schedule.
The Longhorns officially joined 5A Region 5 as part of the latest round of realignment beginning this school year. Friday, West Field looked the part of a program with legitimate postseason aspirations, led by Eilertson and junior wide receiver Gavin Ortegon out of the gate.
A fumble by Mason Welch on the Royals’ opening drive fell into the hands of West Field’s Ace Charlesworth, setting up the first of two touchdown connections between Eliertson and Ortegon in the first quarter.
In his fourth year, Solomona is wading through a wave of injuries before and after his group squandered the game’s opening drive.
“Everything was unfortunate, man,” Solomona said. “That fumble to start the game wasn’t what we anticipated, but we fought. We tried to do the best we could, and being down 10, we felt we’ve always been a second-half team going in. I think the injuries, once they started piling up and we kept looking, there wasn’t much we could do.”
Down 13, Roy’s backfield, led by Welch and junior Howie Howard, paved the way for an answer, a grinder of a run by junior quarterback Rock Speredon for six with 2:21 to go in the first quarter.
It wouldn’t come without retribution. West Field leaned on junior running back Elijah Woods, taking a handful of touches inside the Roy 10-yard line, to stage a third Eilertson touchdown pass, this time finding senior wideout and kicker Jaden Fowers for a 20-7 lead.
Roy caught a break on a critical first-down catch by junior wide receiver Drayden Esplin on second-and-23, and another with a pass interference call favoring the Royals in the red zone. West Field held Roy to a field goal, cleared by senior kicker Bo Williams from 35 yards out, before the half.
With a two-score lead, Jones was eager to see his group return to the field and take care of business — something he said hadn’t been apparent entering Week 4.
“We’ve struggled the past two weeks in the second half, offensively and defensively,” Jones said. “That was one of the focuses this week: playing better in the second half, and I thought we did that tonight.”
Eilertson registered his only interception of the game before halftime, picked off by sophomore Lucius Hicks with under a minute remaining in the first half. The takeaway hardly gave Roy a bump, though, as Eilertson added his fourth passing touchdown, hitting Phoenix Sandoval from 17 yards, on the Longhorns’ first drive of the second half.
Roy managed a stop later in the third quarter, with Fowers missing the first of two field goal attempts, to give Speredon and the Royals possession at their own 20-yard line.
The subsequent drive yielded points, with Esplin piping in for six, and Roy cut the score to 27-17 with 2:19 to go in the third quarter.
Those two minutes were all Eilertson needed to respond, eyeing Kolt Abbott in the back of the end zone for his fifth touchdown pass to send West Field up 17 entering the fourth quarter.
Eilerton found Sandoval for the quarterback’s career-setting sixth touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter. Speredon recorded his lone touchdown pass of the night, a 22-yard dart to junior wide receiver Ryker Cordero, with 5:26 left.
The script has certainly flipped on Roy this season, now 0-4 following Friday’s loss at West Field. They’ll look to enter the win column at home with an unbeaten, 4-0 Box Elder next week.
As for West Field, they have the first win of a newborn series with Roy, and a shiny region win to go along with the fact. But the road for Jones and the Longhorns is hardly over, and continues next week at Bonneville.
Rivalry or no rivalry, Jones and Solomona are in each other’s good graces for the foreseeable future.
“Eric’s my brother,” Solomona said. “I learned a lot from him over the past several years and it’s all love. I’m honored to share the field with him, and we’re all under that Freddy tree despite the West Field-Roy new rivalry and stuff. There’s still love between me and Eric.”
Connect with reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.
