High school football: Lehi gets the best of Timpview in 28-24 thriller

In a game that lived up to its hype and then some, Lehi was able to overcome a sluggish first half and get the best of their heated rivals Timpview, 28-24, in what ended up being a tense and exciting back and forth affair.

“Timpview played really well. They have a great offense. I knew it was going to be a great matchup and great game to watch with our defense going up against their offense. I’m really proud of our offense for scoring and getting the job done when they needed to. We had some hiccups in the first half, but we were able to fix it,” Lehi head coach Ed Larson said.

Throughout much of the game, Timpview’s defense was able to keep Lehi in check, allowing just a single touchdown in the first half as the T-Birds ended up taking a small lead into halftime.

Lehi got on the scoreboard early, scoring their only points of the first half when quarterback Jackson Brousseau found Max Lyman for a 19-yard score to take the early 7-0 lead. 

Timpview kicker Jacob Larsen split the uprights on a 30-yard field goal attempt to make it a 7-3 game. Isaiah Vaea gave his team the momentum and lead with 25 seconds left in the half when he found himself on the receiving end of a 58-yard pass from Quezon Villa. Lehi would go on to block the extra point, keeping Timpview’s lead at 2 heading into the halftime break.

Timpview continued to put the pressure on Lehi, scoring on their first offensive possession of the second half with Daniel Beckstead breaking free and running up the field for an 85-yard rushing touchdown. With a 16-7 lead, Timpview seemed in control and for a moment was poised to get revenge against a Lehi team that knocked it out of the state playoffs a year ago.

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With one minute left in the 3rd quarter, Lehi’s offense finally decided to come to life and quarterback Jackson Brousseau found Kolton Tanner for a 14-yard touchdown score, pulling the Pioneers within two, making it a one possession game.

Lehi then pulled ahead for the second time in the game 21-16 on a short 1-yard run by Freshman running back Devaughn Eka.

Timpview answered with four minutes to go in the game when with Vaea scored his second touchdown of the game, this time by rushing it into the end zone for a 4-yard score. 

With time ticking away and just a minute left to go, Brousseau again located Tanner in the back of the end zone, giving Lehi a 28-24 lead.

With 28 seconds left in the game, Timpview had the ball deep in Lehi territory and faced a fourth down and 4, with had no choice but to go for it. Villa chose to keep the ball and came up just short of the first down, putting and end to whatever last second hopes Timpview had.

“Everything right now is preparing for the next opponent. We got Orem next and then we’ll see what the RPI says and take it from there,” said Larson.