East wide receiver Damian Otukolo weaved his way back across the length of the field from right to left after catching a pass from quarterback Dameon Crosby, gliding against the grain of Kearns tacklers to score a 59-yard touchdown.
The Leopards, known for their option run game, discovered a complementary explosive passing element on the road Friday night to top Kearns 33-21 in the first round of the 5A playoffs.
“I knew they’d be well prepared,” East coach Brandon Matich said of Kearns. “They really came out and punched us in the mouth early and we had to recover and adjust. Our kids did a good job of that.”
Indeed, East outscored Kearns 26-14 after the first quarter through a trio of defensive turnovers, Crosby’s deep ball and two Nunu Fonua rushing touchdowns.
Kearns opened the scoring as Teki Finau scampered 11-yards over the right side of the offensive line untouched into the end zone with 4:11 left in the first quarter.
The slippery and balanced Fonua, whom Matich described as having a “heart bigger than his body,” answered on the ensuing East drive, knifing up the middle of the Kearns defense for an 8-yard score and the 7-7 tie.
“You just have to have heart, man,” Fonua said of his physicality. “That dog in you.”
Crosby mixed in the downfield throws immediately afterward, rolling out and hitting Ti’ja Tate for a 35-yard scoring strike to make it 13-7 with 5:57 left before half.
“Dameon Crosby is a great kid. He’s tough, he’s mellow,” Matich said. “The moment is never too big for him, he trusts and loves his teammates and he just came out and did a great job for us tonight.”
Papaseea Matelau knocked the ball loose on a blitz on Kearns’ next drive, setting Fonua up for another romp over the left side of his offensive line on a 6-yard touchdown.
“This game was kind of slow starting off,” Matelau said. “I think the turnovers helped us a lot through this game and helped us take the lead.”
Tate snagged a hanging sideline throw for an interception on the next Kearns offensive snap and Crosby hit Otukolo for the 27-7 lead and three East touchdowns in less than six minutes of game time as the first half expired.
Kearns pounced on a surprise onside kick to open the second half and Finau put the Cougars offensive attack on his shoulders, finding daylight up the middle and his second score of the night from six yards out to cut the deficit to 27-14 with 9:51 left in the third quarter.
A huge East kickoff return set the Leopards up inside Kearns’ 20 before David Bergstedt added a 2-yard scoring dive for the 33-14 lead with 8:44 left in the third quarter.
Finau hit Kayden Morrey for a 6-yard consolation touchdown with 13 seconds left in the game before the third and final East turnover on a William Fredrick interception sealed the 33-21 margin.
Matich said East wanted a better seed after the regular season but was happy without a first-round bye because the Leopards feed off emotion.
Said Crosby: “We’ll pick it up next week and on to Springville.”