TAYLORSVILLE — Jordan and Taylorsville both punted on their first drives on Friday night. It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a snapshot of what was about to follow.
Over the next roughly four hours, the Region 3 foes combined for 25 touchdowns in one of the most insane games in the 124-year history of Utah high school football.
When the dust finally settled in a game that started to get national traction on social media, Jordan took a couple knees to run out the clock on a 91-83 victory over Taylorsville.
“Crazy game. Always good to come out with a win,” said Jordan quarterback Crew Wakley. “That’s why there’s a whole team ’cause when your defense isn’t doing good sometimes your offense has to get the job done, and I thought we did a good job doing that.”
Despite all those points, Jordan and Taylorsville were one touchdown shy of breaking the state’s 90-year scoring record, which occurred in Carbon’s 175-6 win over South Emery back in 1926.
The 91 points scored by Jordan is the most by any team since 1954 when Cedar beat Kanab 95-0. The 83 points scored by Taylorsville shatters Pleasant Grove’s state record for points scored in a regulation loss at 52 — which came against Jordan in 2014.
The game also shattered the state’s previous total offense record of 1,451 yards, which ironically enough came just two years ago in Jordan’s 78-76 triple overtime win over Brighton — which was 56-56 after regulation.
Friday night's teams combined for 1,734 yards of total offense, with Jordan accounting for 930 and Taylorsville 804.
“One of those crazy games, back and forth the whole time,” said Jordan coach Eric Kjar. “It was just one of those games that spiraled toward that type of game.”
The two quarterbacks each accounted for 11 total touchdowns, breaking the previous state record of 10 by three players — East’s Gene Livingston (1919), West Jordan’s Adam Boulter (2009) and Jordan’s Austin Kafentzis (2014).
Wakley finished with seven passing touchdowns and four rushing TDs, while Taylorsville quarterback Dane Leituala had eight passing TDs and three rushing scores.
“Crew is coming along and getting better each week, he’s doing a really good job of looking at defenses and knowing where to go with the ball. He’s a tough kid, really competitive,” said Kjar. “I thought the offense did a good job keeping the foot on the gas throughout the game, ’cause there was a lot of pressure on them to keep scoring.”
Kjar wasn’t pleased obviously with allowing 83 points, but he said Leituala was a big reason for that.
“He played lights out tonight,” said Kjar.
Taylorsville was unsuccessful on two onside kicks in the game, the last coming after cutting the deficit to 91-83 with 4:59 remaining in the game.
Jordan sealed the win with four first downs on that final drive, including a critical completion to Isaiah Jackson on third down and 17. Jackson tied with Taylorsville’s Jace Simons on a game-high four TD receptions.
“Our receivers did a really good job running the right route and attacking downfield. I thought they were really efficient. I don’t remember there being a dropped pass,” said Kjar.
Jordan led 42-28 at the half, but the scoring ratcheted up quickly in the third quarter with Jordan outscoring Taylorsville 35-33. The 68 points tied the state record for most points in a quarter.
The longest scoring drive of the third quarter was 2:30, and the yardages of the third-quarter touchdowns were 59, 42, 37, 82, 40, 4, 17, 11, 70, 11, 70 and 33. The teams each scored in the opening 20 seconds of the fourth quarter as well.
“It started getting close, and I realize we didn’t have room for error,” said Wakley.
Ironically enough, there were no special teams touchdowns in the game. There were seven TDs over 50 yards and three over 70 yards.
When Jordan went ahead 84-69 with 11:51 left in the fourth quarter on Jackson’s 80-yard TD reception, the thought crossed Kjar’s mind that the Beetdiggers might score over 100 points.
Taylorsville’s next scoring drive, however, took 3:02 off the clock which trimmed the lead to 84-76. Jordan then responded with its own “methodical” 2:53 scoring drive to reclaim the 91-75 lead — its last score of the game.
For Jordan, the defensive performance was a bit of an anomaly as it allowed 21, 27 and 21 points in the first three weeks. Kjar didn’t want to dwell on the defensive struggles afterward, instead focusing on the win and starting region play 1-0.
Taylorsville, meanwhile, has allowed 49, 55, 52 and now 91 points in four games this season. With Brighton and West Jordan on tap the next two weeks, the Warriors need to find a way to get stops soon if they wants to qualify for the playoffs.
James Edward is the Deseret News prep editor and Real Salt Lake beat writer. EMAIL: jedward@deseretnews.com