The first half was a dang battle, 3-nothing, and then we have a play that sparks us on the kickoff return and we were able to get rolling after that. – Weber head coach Matt Hammer
CLEARFIELD — Weber High head football coach Matt Hammer and his Clearfield counterpart, Andre Dyson, have known each other since they were young kids.
They were childhood neighbors in Clinton, growing up just three houses away from each other; they both played their prep football at Clearfield High — Dyson was three years ahead of Hammer in school — and they coached together at Weber State and again at Weber High, where Dyson served as Hammer's first defensive coordinator.
So to say these two coaches are close would be an understatement.
Still, they're both fiercely competitive guys who found themselves facing each other as rivals in their teams' Region 1 opener Friday night.
And, ignited by Ty Barnett's 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second half, coach Hammer will have bragging rights the next time these two coaches chat.
The Warriors used a strong rushing attack and a punishing defensive performance that kept the previously undefeated Falcons out of the end zone all night long, and Weber pulled away from a narrow 3-0 halftime lead to take an impressive 25-0 victory.
"The first half was a dang battle, 3-nothing, and then we have a play that sparks us on the kickoff return and we were able to get rolling after that," Hammer said of Barnett's game-changing play. "Great effort, great team, Andre's a great football coach, and they're gonna be just fine. We just played better than them.
"I've known Andre since I was 4 or 5 years old. We're so damn competitive against each other; we didn't say anything to each other before the game, (gave each other) a quick handshake after the game, and then we'll communicate a little bit after the season as it goes.
"I wish them the best of luck," said Hammer, whose team improved to 2-1 overall. "I went to school here, so if there's one place in Utah that I want to see succeed, it's Clearfield and Andre."
After Weber's Colton Jones recovered a fumble to stop Clearfield's opening drive inside the Weber 20, the Warriors drove down field and got a 26-year field goal by Pierce Callister for a 3-0 lead in the final minute of the first quarter. That score stood up until halftime.
Then to start the second half, Barnett scooped up the kickoff, went to his right and then cut upfield into the open and couldn't be caught. Ninety yards and a PAT later, it was 10-0.
"Before they kicked it, I told my team, 'Hey, we'd better take this to the house,' " Barnett said. "We were telling them 'We're taking this one back," and then when they kicked it to me, I was like 'Oh, yes.'
"It was kinda short, and my teammate was calling for me to take it, and then it bounced and I thought it was gonna just bounce right back to me. But it sat on the ground, so I ran up and picked it up and I was waiting to see the hole. And then our blockers did an excellent job and gave me enough time to just hit the hole, and nobody was there.
"We were flat coming into halftime and especially going back out, we were kinda flat," he said. "But after that (kickoff return, we could feel the change. Everybody calmed down and had the juice and we got hyped up."
After Barnett's big play seemed to deflate the Falcons, Weber seized the momentum.
Austin Bartholomew's passes to Jones, Hunter Neilson and Josh Carter propelled the Warriors downfield, and Jones broke off a 32-yard rushing burst to the Clearfield 3. Jones scored from there on the next play and, after a penalty on the PAT kick, Bartholomew connected with Carter on a two-point conversion pass to make it 18-0.
Clearfield drove all the way to the Weber 3 on its next possession, but a bad snap snuffed the Falcons' field goal attempt, and Clearfield's next drive died at the Warriors' 29.
After Jones' 50-yard scoring scamper was called back by a penalty, Carter Green tore off a couple big chunks of yardage and soon got Weber on the scoreboard again on a 2-yard plunge, with Callister's PAT running the final count to 25-0.
Weber's defense did the rest.
"I think we played a great game, stopping both the run and the pass," Weber senior linebacker Jace Campbell said. "And another big key was containing their quarterback (Jaxon Mansfield). We know he's a big threat outside the pocket, too, and our D-ends did a great job keeping him in the pocket.
"It was one of those games where, once we came out at halftime, we knew that if we'd get the first score that we could put the pressure on them and we were gonna come out ahead.
"We knew they were coming in high with a lot of confidence," Campbell said of Clearfield, now 2-1 on the season. "A lot of people probably don't know that our defensive coordinator (Billy Pluim) teaches here at Clearfield, so he's been hearing it from those kids all week. And so this one was for him. We had a lot on the line for him, and I think our defense stepped up for him."
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