Ryder Christensen had two interceptions with less than two minutes left in the game and Lone Peak held off a feisty Pleasant Grove team and grabbed a momentum building 24-14 victory.
With the win Friday night, Lone Peak remains undefeated at home and moves to 4-1 on the season entering region play.
“I think our defense is playing well right now. We had a couple of brain farts but outside of that I thought the defense was solid. We did have some stupid penalties and stuff that’s on us that we have to clean up,” Lone Peak head coach Bart Brockbank said.
Lone Peak quarterback Kaden Hodson threw for three touchdowns, while Nic Staffieri and Cannon Hale were responsible for Pleasant Grove’s points.
Even though his team was able to ultimately get the job done, Brockbank knows his team has a lot of work left to do if it wants to be successful come region play.
“I feel like we left points on the board offensively,” Brockbank said. “We’re also struggling a lot in the red zone right now. Until we figure that stuff out we’re going to have to really grind out these wins,”
Lone Peak grabbed an early lead when quarterback Kaden Hodson found receiver Trey Robinson deep down the field for a 70-yard touchdown to open up the scoring.
With three minutes left in the opening quarter, Staffieri found an open Hale down the middle of the field for a 25-yard score to tie the game up for Pleasant Grove.
A 33-yard field goal by Lone Peak kicker Ian Sanches increased the lead by three for the home side.
Hodson gave his team a little cushion by finding Crew McChesney sprinting deep down the sideline for a massive 81-yard touchdown score, making it 17-7 going into halftime.
Cole Christensen helped put the game out of reach for Lone Peak with a short 4-yard touchdown reception of his own.
Hale got his second touchdown connecting Staffieri once again, but it was too little too late for Pleasant Grove.
Two clutch interceptions by Ryder Christensen helped keep Lone Peak’s winning streak alive and gave them some much needed momentum heading into region play.
“I’m really proud of our team for gutting out some wins,” Brockbank said. “A win is a win, even if it was a little ugly tonight. We really have to figure out how to score in the end zone because if we don’t region is going to get real tough.”
