SANDY — Brighton coach Russ Boyer doesn't let his players get caught up in the overall importance of each game, especially during state tournament time. As far as Boyer is concerned, if his Bengals go out and work their tails off, the results will take care of themselves.
Brighton's formula for success produced another win in Tuesday's 5A quarterfinals.
By avoiding a similar pitfall to the one that nearly cost them in last week's come-from-behind playoff victory over Fremont, the Bengals jumped out quickly against Northridge and hung on for the 2-1 win.
"I told them we have to come out and play our best game," Boyer said. "We needed to have a good effort."
That effort needed to be 80 minutes, not 40 minutes.
In last week's first-round game with Fremont, the sluggish Bengals fell behind 2-0 by halftime, but rallied for the hard-fought 3-2 victory.
A costly slip-up by Northridge's keeper Tuesday ensured a similar rally wouldn't be necessary.
Midway through the first half, the keeper misplayed what should've been a routine save. The rebound deflected right to Brighton's Dallas Stephenson, and the Knights' goalie had no choice but to foul him to prevent the easy goal.
His tactics only delayed the inevitable. Brighton's Matt King buried the penalty kick to put his team ahead 1-0. Nine minutes later, the Bengals were the recipient of another favorable deflection.
When sophomore Ryan Ulanch uncorked a 25-yard shot toward the left side of the net, the ball glanced off a Northridge defender and veered into the right side of the goal.
Considering that Brighton's stingy defense, anchored by sweeper Dan Haber, had surrendered just six goals in 17 games, a Northridge rally seemed unlikely.
"It's hard to come back from two goals against anyone," said Northridge coach Richard Callister.
The Knights weren't deterred, however. As far as they were concerned, if fellow Region 1 team Fremont could scored twice on Brighton in one half, why not them?
Northridge answered quickly as Neilson Blake volleyed home a tremendous 15-yard shot two minutes into the second half.
The Bengals' defense clamped down after that, and punched Brighton's seventh consecutive ticket to the final four. It will face region foe Jordan on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Juan Diego High School.
In other 5A playoff games Tuesday:
WEBER 2, RIVERTON 0:Skyler Campbell and Garrett Swift each marked goals in the first half, and Tyrell Farnes earned the shutout, as Weber knocks out Riverton from the playoffs.
LAYTON 1, DAVIS 1 (2OT) (DAVIS WON SHOOTOUT 8-7): The Darts advance to the semifinals as Ryan Robinson buried his shootout attempt in the 12th round of shooters. Davis' Zac Burk and Layton's Kellan Christensen scored in regulation.
VIEWMONT 0, JORDAN 0 (2OT) (JORDAN WON SHOOTOUT 4-2): Beetdiggers keeper Travis Rogers saved two shots in the shootout as Jordan upset Viewmont to advance to the semifinals.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com