After suffering two disappointing losses in preseason play, Sky View held off a late comeback to defeat Box Elder, 18-14, in a Region 5 opener Friday night.
Sky View's winning score came on a controversial runback of 98 yards by Cody Stokes, after Box Elder had attempted a 47 yard fieldgoal that fell short, bouncing at the 2-yard line, keeping the ball in play. Stokes scooped up the ball and darted for the end zone. After a prolonged discussion by the referees the play was ruled a touchdown."This was a heads up play and gave us the ball game," Sky View coach Doug Snow commented.
Box Elder quickly came out in the second half with a vengeance. Down 18 to 0, the Bees went to work scoring on their first possesion of the third quarter on a 10 yard-run by Steve Graves.
Rob Burgone added the Bees' second touchdown on a 24-yard run. The Bees scored another touchdown that was disqualified by a penalty late in the fourth quarter.
The Sky View offense lost some of its steam in the second half and did not score. Coach Snow admitted, "this team has struggled offensively through the season and more coaching will go into our backfield as we continue to establish our running game. Our defense has done supurb all year and this was a big factor in this game."
Sky View picked up its first win in region play with an overall record of 1-2 and will play Bear River next week.
Mountain Crest 28, Bear River 10
At Tremonton, the Mountain Crest Mustangs remained undefeated on the year moving to 3-0 with a big win over Bear River.
Mountain Crest's defense scored its first touchdown of the season when Boyd Cook made an interception and dashed 47 yards for the score. The Mustang defense has averaged seven sacks per game.
Mustang quarterback Matt Rudd completed 14 of 34 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions and running back Greg Cook carried nine times for 69 yards.
Bear River falls to 1-2. Mountain Crest will play Ben Lomand next week.