Opting to pass on 34 years of frustration, Box Elder ran and ran and ran to the top of the 4A football ranks Friday at Rice Stadium.
Paced by 484 yards rushing, the Bees defeated East 51-28 for their first state championship since 1960."This is huge," said Phil Heywood, who finished with 286 yards on 17 carries. "The biggest thing in the world."
Box Elder (12-1) scored on its first four possessions, while capitalizing on two East turnovers, to put the game - featuring zero punts - away early.
"Just too much offense out of them and too many turnovers out of us," said East coach Keeko Georgelas. "It was too much to overcome."
The Leopards, making their first championship appearance in 21 years, opened the game with an interception and a fumble. Both miscues led to Box Elder scores.
Heywood capped the first offensive set with an 18-yard run, while Matt Pebley's 33-yard field goal finished the other drive.
Trailing 10-0, East marched 80 yards on 11 plays to close the gap early in the second quarter. Unfortunately for the Leopards, Sione Havili's 9-yard touchdown run with 10:27 left in the half was followed by a pair of Box Elder scores before the half. A 10-yard run by quarterback Marc Dunn and Nate Putnam's fumble recovery in the end zone made it 24-7 at the intermission.
"They moved the ball and we couldn't stop them," said Georgelas. "We didn't give ourselves a chance. We didn't play defense all day. They just took advantage of what we gave them."
After Boo Bendinger's 12-yard touchdown run reduced the deficit to 24-14 late in the third quarter, the Leopards returned to their generous ways - first surrendering an 86-yard touchdown run to Heywood and then handing the ball back on a fumble. The latter led to an 11-yard scamper by Deakin. In less than one minute, Box Elder's lead had swelled to 38-14.
"We had no idea we could do that," said Box Elder coach Wes Roesler. "We've got good backs and our defense came through."
Most of his praise, however, was directed at Box Elder's offensive line.
"No way (East's) defensive line was the best in the state," he said in challenging his troops to win the line war. "We wanted to call it their second nightmare (referring to the Leopards' 33-13 setback at run-oriented Murray earlier this season)."
The unpleasant dream continued, though in less lopsided fashion, down the stretch.
East managed two scores (off touchdown passes of seven and 15 yards to Bendinger and Jason Barlow) in the final 13 minutes, but Box Elder countered with three trips to the end zone.
"Our front line dominated," said Heywood, who followed a 10-yard run by Deakin and an 85-yard scoring strike from Dunn to Mike Sumko with an 88-yard dash.
"Holy cow!," said Dunn. "(Our offensive line) played a tremendous game. They set up everything and we took it."
Linemen Tom Harper, Kevin Jensen, Ryan Whitaker, Bryan Stender and Richard Watson enabled the Bees to stay on the ground - passing only four times.
"We had total backing," said Deakin. "We were just real confident."