LEHI — The term “grinding out a win” is often overused when describing a football victory, but it’s hard to think of a more appropriate description for Skyridge’s 18-10 win over Sky View on Friday.
The evidence would be not one, but two key safeties that played huge for the Falcons in getting the win by a closer margin than perhaps anticipated.
“Sometimes that’s just the way you have to get it done,” said Skyridge coach Jon Lehman.
Getting it done for the Falcons initially was linebacker Carter Southwick, who busted through the line to drop a Sky View run in the end zone for a safety in the opening minutes of the second half. The safety cut Sky View’s lead to 3-2 with 10:54 left in the third quarter, but perhaps most importantly seemed to jump start an otherwise lagging performance by the Falcons.
Soon after Southwick’s safety came an interception courtesy of Skyridge defensive back Malae Tanuvasa, which helped set up a 3-yard plunge into the end zone by Falcon running back Jeter Felton. A two-point conversion off a completed pass from Emmett Call to Tanner Shelton gave the Falcons a 10-3 lead with 3:47 left in the third quarter.
“We just started to focus more on our assignments,” Lehman said of what led to his team’s second half surge. “Defensively we had guys making plays and putting the offense in good position.”
A 3-yard touchdown run from Call seemingly put the game on cruise control for the Falcons with just 1:03 left in the third quarter, stretching the score to 16-3, but the Bobcats, and more specifically, quarterback Mason Falslev weren’t quite finished.
Falslev, who is committed to play basketball for Utah, proved hard to handle on most occasions with his ability to extend plays to make big gains during key moments. Falslev’s stellar play finally culminated into a touchdown when he hit Scout Morris with a 12-yard touchdown pass to cut the score to 16-10 with 4:28 remaining.
“Falslev is a very good football player and he proved tough to handle at times,” Lehman said. “It was hard to put them away because of his play out there. That’s a good team and he’s certainly a great player for them.”
Falslev appeared poised for some late heroics on two occasions before key defensive plays held him and the Bobcats just short.
The first stop came with 1:40 remaining, when a scrambling Falslev was backed all the way into his own end zone, forcing him to throw it away. The problem with his pass, however, is it fell nowhere near an intended receiver, which garnered an intentional grounding penalty and a subsequent safety to give the Falcons an 18-10 lead.
But Sky View managed to still make it interesting.
The ensuing onside attempt from their own 20-yard line was fumbled and pounced on by the Bobcats to set up a would-be comeback. Again, Falslev led the way, scrambling and throwing his way clear to Skyridge’s 12-yard line with just two seconds left on the clock. But his final pass flew just wide of his intended target in the end zone, however, as Skyridge escaped with the hard-fought win.
“We really had to grind this one out, but we’ll learn from it,” Lehman said. “We need to be more physical from the start, but like I said, Sky View is a good team and Falslev is a great player.”
With the win, Skyridge improves to 2-0 on the year and will take on Sierra Vista (Nevada) next Friday. Sky View falls to 1-1 with the loss and will look to rebound with a game versus Shelley (Idaho).