LOGAN – Under the lights of Utah State University's Romney Stadium the Sky View Bobcats needed a 34-yard field goal in overtime to best Fremont 30-27 on the opening night of high school football.
After trading leads throughout the contest, and then failing to score in extra time, the Bobcats looked to Brock Warren, who lifted his team with the needed three points to victory.
The decision was final when Sky View's Dom Gero picked off a pass thrown by Brody Garr on the fourth down in overtime.
"He was just doing his job, and when you're doing your job and you're in the right spot good things will happen," said Sky View head coach Craig Ahder. "It was great to see him in the right spot, for him to catch that. Then, I think I was almost going to tackle him to get him down. We didn't need a fumble, we didn't need anything silly there."
The Fremont offense erupted on the first drive of the game when Brody Garr connected with Jed Craner on an explosive 65-yard pass play. Chase Hancock polished off the successful series putting his kicks through the uprights.
The Bobcats evened things up when Kyler Carlson found Shaun Harris in the end zone with an 11-yard toss and Chase Hancock put his point-after through.
Sky View took the lead with an impressive play of its own. From 39 yards out Carlsen launched a bomb into the back corner of the end zone for Tanner Hunt to bring down for the score. The Bobcats tried to go for the two-point conversion but were stopped in the backfield. Sky View's Nick Eskelson was dragged down by Fremont's Eian Edwards before he could make any progress toward the goal line.
Before the Bobcats could relish their lead, the Silver Wolves marched right back down the field and regained their scoreboard advantage. The drive began with a 40-yard kick return, and ended with Craner catching yet another scoring pass from Garr. Hancock's successful kick put Fremont back in front 14-13.
Before the close of the half Garr added to the Silver Wolf lead slipping through the Sky View defense and running the ball in on his own from three yards. Fremont's lead remained at seven as Hancock's kick sailed wide of the uprights.
Coming out of intermission the Bobcats appeared to play with a renewed focus. Their opening drive took them all the way to within a yard of scoring before ran the ball in for a touchdown. Warren earned another point with his feet to bring the game even at 20-20.
After the Sky View offense evened up the score the defense made some big stops to keep the Silver Wolves off the board. For Sky View head coach Craig Ahder, his team's third quarter performance was crucial to their success on the evening.
"We had just regained the momentum back ?— we had tied the game with our first drive," said Ahder. "So, it was big that we came in there and stopped them there...then our offense was able to go down and score again right after that.
"And, that may have been the only series they had in the third quarter. That's just because our offense executed well and our defense went in and made the stops. I think that was a turning point to help us get over that edge — at least put us in position to go into overtime."
The Bobcats took their last lead of regulation on an 11-yard pass play where Tanner Hunt caught a short throw from Carlsen, spun off his defender and then ran the ball in untouched. Warren's kick was again successful and Sky View was up 27-20 in the fourth quarter.
After Fremont punted with just under three minutes to play the game looked to be out of reach for the Silver Wolves. That is until Zac Christian jumped on a Sky View fumble, putting Fremont on the Sky View 38 with 2:39 on the clock.
Garr did not waste this golden opportunity for the Silver Wolves. The quarterback scrambled to his left before lofting a 39-yard pass to Take Lewis, who brought it down with a Sky View defender on his back.
Kyler Tucker caught a lateral pass on the next play and scored from four yards out. Hancock's kick sealed the tie with 2:11 to play.
Sky View failed on multiple attempts at long pass plays to take the game in regulation, and even couldn't get the ball over the line in overtime. The deadlock was finally broken by Warren's feet.