HIGHLAND — Lone Peak’s Nate Ritchie can well be argued as the top playmaker in the entire state, and his performance during the Knights’ 30-20 win over Timpview on Friday would only work to strengthen his case.
So what exactly did the 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior do in the win? As is the case on more than a few occasions, he just about did it all.
And all his contributions were absolutely necessary following an 88-yard interception return from Timpview’s Raider Damuni that suddenly tied the game at 20-20 with 9:16 remaining, just when the Knights appeared to have the game well in hand.
Ritchie responded initially by recovering a fumble with Timpview approaching midfield, which culminated into a 29-yard field goal kicked through by — you guessed it — Nate Ritchie, a few minutes later, giving Lone Peak a 23-20 lead.
A few minutes later, Timpview appeared poised for a comeback bid when Ritchie made his final big play, what could well be considered his top contribution of the evening. That play had the senior safety picking off a pass and weaving his way adeptly through the Timpview would-be tacklers all the way to the end zone from 41 yards out.
“That play right there shows what Nate Ritchie is all about. He already made a big play picking it off, and a lot of other guys would have just gone down, but Nate isn’t that guy. He’s always seeing the end zone.” — Lone Peak coach Bart Brockbank, on Nate Ritchie’s game-clinching pick-six
“That play right there shows what Nate Ritchie is all about,” said Lone Peak coach Bart Brockbank. “He already made a big play picking it off, and a lot of other guys would have just gone down, but Nate isn’t that guy. He’s always seeing the end zone.”
Ritchie’s score pushed Lone Peak to a 30-20 lead with 2:41 left, which proved to be the final.
Prior to Ritchie’s heroics came a lot of up-and-down play from the defending 6A state champion Knights, which left Brockbank with some cause for concern despite the win.
“You can’t make the mistakes we did late,” Brockbank said. “But it’s what you sometimes get early in the year. We’ll work on fixing it and, yeah, I feel we left a lot of points on the board tonight.”
The first points of the night can on a 1-yard plunge by Lone Peak’s Zach White for a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter before Timpview’s Targhee Lambson answered with his own 1-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter. Two big plays by either side finished off the first half scoring with Lone Peak quarterback JD Neeleman hitting Trajan Hansen for a 74-yard score and Timpview’s Elijah Allen throwing a 70-yard strike to Baylor Erickson to tie things up 14-14 at the half.
The second half saw Lone Peak take control on both sides of the ball with Ritchie scoring on a 25-yard touchdown reception for a 20-14 lead early in the third quarter.
As mentioned, things changed dramatically when Damuni turned what looked to be a Lone Peak touchdown drive into a spectacular interception return for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
“That can’t happen,” Brockbank said. “We just can’t make mistakes like that toward the end of games, but we’ll learn from it, and yeah, it’s really nice to have Nate Ritchie to make plays to overcome those mistakes.”
Lone Peak will work to start the season 2-0 next week traveling to take on Jordan while Timpview will look to rebound with a game at American Fork.