No. 6 East (9-3) at No. 3 Bingham (8-2)
- 6A state tournament quarterfinal
- Friday, 5 p.m.
- Parry’s Power Guide: Bingham by 5
- All-time series: Series tied 5-5
- Coach vs. coach: Bingham’s John Lambourne leads East’s Brandon Matich 4-0
- Last meeting: Bingham 16, East 14 (week 7)
SOUTH JORDAN — Since making the jump to 6A back in 2017, East’s football program has had four cracks at beating Bingham — including the 2017 title game — and lost every time.
Among the four losses was a 16-14 loss at Bingham back in week 7 in which East’s two-point conversion attempt with 30 seconds remaining was stuffed in the backfield.
East will get another crack at the mighty Miners this Friday in the juggernaut 6A quarterfinal showdown.
“It’s a mental hurdle that our program needs to get over. When you play Bingham as we found out the last few games, they’re going to be pretty steady eddy and efficient in what they do and we can’t make the mistakes that we seemingly always do and they prey on,” said East coach Brandon Matich.
In that game earlier this season Matich said two East turnovers led directly to 10 Bingham points. As discouraging as the loss was at the time, East hasn’t lost since and is vastly more efficient offensively than it was that September night.
For Bingham, that victory was the first in its current five-game winning streak and showed the resiliency of a team that that was kind of written off back in August when it lost to Corner Canyon by 28 points.
The week before starting quarterback Troy Mehn went down with a neck injury against Herriman, and the offense struggled to move the ball in the second half with the back-up QB.
Instead of starting the backup QB against East, Bingham’s coaches made a calculated gamble to basically run Wildcat the entire game with running backs Preston Larson and Mason Christianson.
They were superb combing to rush for 204 yards on 38 carries to spearhead the victory over East.
Mehn returned to action a couple weeks later and Bigham’s offense has been clicking just fine ever since.
Preston Larson has been the catalyst to much of that success with 1,322 yards and 14 TDs — with 814 of those yards coming in the last five games.
“Preston is solid every week. If you look at his statistics, there’s nobody better in the state,” said Bingham coach John Lambourne.
It was his performance against East that helped turn the season around.
“I felt like it was a real critical moment for us and I was real proud of our guys, and I think we’ve progressed from that point. I think the kids have handled all of it really well,” said Lambourne. “It was big, and now we have to turn around and try and do it again.”
Bingham faces an East team that will look vastly different from the earlier match-up.
Matich said he’s shaken up the personnel in several spots since the loss, and freshman running back Amini Amone will play a much larger role as well.
In that game Amone only had a handful of touches from the wing position and didn’t really play much of a role in the game. For the season though he’s rushed for 1,623 yards and 12 touchdowns and been a game changer over the past month.
“He’s really kind of separated himself as that elite guy that we have and to say that he’s a freshman and we’re going to have him for four years is remarkable, but he’s also a freshman and does freshman things, but he is a different breed,” said Matich.
Collectively, Matich said this is the best group of running backs he’s ever coached and along with the offensive line has been an incredibly efficient group.
To advance to the semifinals and clear the Bingham hurdle, protecting the football will be key for those running backs. Even last week in a 50-10 blowout over Layton, East turned the ball over twice in the first quarter which led directly to 10 Layton points.
Against Bingham, a similarly rough start might be too difficult to overcome.
East statistical breakdown
- Scoring offense: 33.2 ppg (6th in 6A)
- Scoring defense: 16.1 ppg (2nd in 6A)
- Passing leader: Izaak Zimmerman (5 TDs)
- Rushing leaders: Amini Amone (1,683 yards, 12 TDs), Mapa Vaneuku (833 yards, 3 TDs), Sione Angilau (1,103 yards, 10 TDs)
- Receiving leaders: Iversyn Tapusoa (2 TDs)
- Tackles leaders: Osotonu Samani (135 tackles), Nicolas Sessions (80 tackles), Sione Angilau (79 tackles)
- Sack leaders: Voi Tunuufi Tuunufi (16.5 sacks), Sione Angilau (11 sacks)
Bingham statistical breakdown
- Scoring offense: 32.0 ppg (7th in 6A)
- Scoring defense: 17.9 ppg (5th in 6A)
- Passing leader: Troy Mehn (50-117, 42.7%, 871 yards, 12 TDs)
- Rushing leaders: Preston Larson (191 carries, 1,322 yards, 14 TDs), Troy Mehn (41 carries, 239 yards, 2 TDs)
- Receiving leaders: Isaiah Glasker (18 rec., 321 yards, 7 TDs), Quinlan Maumu (12 rec., 160 yards, 2 TDs)
- Tackles leaders: Sione Fotu (52 tackles), Vilianmi Pouha (51 tackles)
- Sack leaders: Uilisoni Angilau (5 sacks), Vilianmi Pouha (4 sacks)
- Interception leaders: Mason Christensen, Kolton Johnson (2 INTs)
Felts Facts for East High School
- All-time record: 593-360-31 (106 years)
- Region championships: 38 (1917, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923 co, 1925 co, 1926, 1929 co, 1934, 1935, 1936 co, 1937 co, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1943, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1996, 2006 co, 2007 co, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 co)
- Playoff appearances: 47
- All-time playoff record: 66-29-2
- State championships: 17 (1917, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1943, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1964, 1974, 1996, 2015, 2016) — championships determined by season record vs. other high schools from 1898-1918.
- State championship record: 14-5-1
Felt’s Facts for Bingham High School
- All-time record: 518-367-30 (96 years)
- Region championships: 26 (1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1945, 1946, 1960, 1963, 1991 co, 1996 co, 1999 co, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 co, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 co)
- Playoff appearances: 47
- All-time playoff record: 65-35
- State championships: 11 (1939, 1941, 1945, 1946, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017)
- State championship record: 11-2