Bingham coach Eric Jones said Friday night’s regular season finale epitomized what an emotional roller coaster high school football games can be.
His team built a 20-point lead, gave it all back and then scored 17 straight points over a three-minute stretch in the fourth quarter to finish things off in a 37-27 win over Mountain Ridge.
“When you’re relying on teenagers to go out there and execute everything flawlessly, it’s just an up-and-down roller coaster every week with us. I’m not surprised by it. If I had any more hair to lose I’d lose it, but it’s already gone,” said Jones.
On a night with numerous big plays both ways, no moment was bigger than Bode Pedersen’s 50-yard pick six for Bingham with 6:09 remaining in the game that effectively polished off the win as it extended the lead back to 10 points.
The coaches alerted Pedersen before the snap to a possible quick slant pass out of a RPO formation, and the senior stepped right in front of the pass and then raced untouched the other way.
“That’s the play of the game in my opinion,” said Jones.
With the win, Bingham clinches a second-place finish in Region 2 with a 4-1 record, while Mountain Ridge falls to third at 3-2.
The Sentinels, however, finished the regular season with a better overall record at 7-2 — compared to Bingham’s 5-5 record — and figure to get a higher seed for the state tournament when the final RPI rankings are released Saturday morning.
With the way Friday’s game unfolded, both teams have plenty to be excited about heading into the playoffs, and to be concerned about.
Resiliency was the biggest takeaway for both teams. Mountain Ridge didn’t quit after going down 20-0 midway through the second quarter, and conversely, Bingham didn’t panic either after blowing a 20-point lead at home on senior night.
When Bingham wasn’t getting in its own way offensively with penalties and turnovers, it controlled the line of scrimmage much of the night as it rushed for a total of 294 yards.
Chase Swensen accounted for 172 of those yards with two TDs, while Triston Brimhall added 115 yards and another score.
Brimhall opened the scoring with a 39-yard TD run on Bingham’s opening drive, with Swensen and Arona Ka’ili adding TD runs of their own as Bingham raced to the 20-0 lead with 6:23 still remaining in the first half.
“Our run game has always been kind of what gets us going. We live and die by the run. Everyone knows that, it’s not a mystery,” said Jones, who said the returning of starting QB Ka’ili from injury helped with the efficiency as well.
“We executed at a high level, didn’t kill ourselves with penalties like we did in the second half.”
The momentum started to turn with 1:49 remaining in the half when Bingham took a shot downfield from its 49 yard line but had it intercepted by Mountain Ridge’s Dawson Jepson at the 10 yard line. The Miners could’ve simply ran out the clock and headed to the locker room up 20-0.
Instead, the Sentinels capitalized on the gifted possession, driving 90 yards in 56 seconds to cut the lead to 20-7 by halftime.
Kai Meza accounted for all those yards on a 50-yard reception and then a 40-yard TD reception from Wyatt Bingham.
Until that final drive, Bingham’s relentless blitzing defense had bottled up Mountain Ridge’s passing game, which was exactly what Jones was hoping for.
“We just didn’t think that letting the quarterback sit in the pocket all night and kind of pick us apart, giving him time to throw was the right answer, so we wanted to speed him up, put pressure on the QB to make fast decisions and get the ball out quick,” said Jones.
Even on the two long throws, Bingham was under immense pressure but made two incredibly accurate throws.
Mountain Ridge continued with the momentum in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 20-10 on a Brody Laga 47-yard field goal, 20-17 on a Legend Glasker 37-yard TD reception from Bingham and then 20-20 on another Laga field goal as time expired in the third quarter.
Two of those drives came after Bingham fumbles.
The first came with Bingham poised to go back in front by 17 facing a second and goal. Its quarterback wasn’t ready for the snap, and it bounced off his face mask with Mountain Ridge pouncing on the turnover.
Four minutes later at the other end of the field, Mountain Ridge’s Taylor Higham recorded a strip sack with Bingham pinned deep in its own territory. The Sentinels didn’t even get a first down on its ensuing drive, but it still had a chip-shot field goal to tie the game.
Bingham’s offense had a terrific response with an 11-play, 80-yard drive that ate up five minutes off the clock and ended with a Kole Francom field goal for the 23-20 lead.
Even though the Miners had to settle for three, Jones said the rest his defense got was extremely important.
“It was big. Tt gave our defense a break. We take some time off the clock, we regain the lead and gave us a chance to regain our composure and decide what we’re going to do on the ensuing drive,” said Jones. “You always want seven instead of three, but a lead’s better than a tie.”
Pedersen helped make sure Bingham got seven points, too with his pick six less than a minute later.
Swensen helped ice the game with a 51-yard TD run that stretched the lead to 37-20.
Mountain Ridge did tack on one more score, a 24-yard TD reception to Glasker, with Mountain Ridge quarterback Bingham finishing the game with 258 yards and three TDs.