High school football: Bountiful gets first-ever win over Alta to advance to 5A championship game

The last time the Alta Hawks and the Bountiful Redhawks faced off was Nov 7, 1985, when Alta won 5-0. Alta and Bountiful each found big wins in the 5A quarterfinal to set up their first matchup in 38 years in the 5A semifinals.

On Thursday, Bountiful earned a 20-19 semifinal win, marking the first-ever win over Alta, to earn a trip to the 5A championship game.

 “It comes down to confidence, believing in your own abilities, and staying within your own job. If everyone does their job then we can do great things,” said Bountiful head coach Jason Freckleton.

“Belief, trust, not trying to do more than your job. You got to give them credit first for a great game, they’re a well-disciplined, good football team. Our guys believed they could make the plays before we went out there. We said, ‘this is the moment you trained for’ and they did a great job.”

Alta struck first in the first quarter with a touchdown run from Matt McKea for a 7-0 lead for the Hawks. However, Bountiful woke up in the second quarter, scoring two touchdowns for a 14-13 halftime lead.

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“They were tough, and they weren’t giving us anything over the top,” said Freckleton. “As much as we tried to get some guys into some matchups, and they weren’t giving it so we said we got to start taking it underneath and that’s what we talked about. We went into the game with that plan, and it just took us a little longer to get to it.”

While it didn’t score another touchdown, Alta had two offensive drives in the third quarter that resulted in two field goals for a 14-19 score.

Bountiful struggled to score, that is, until it got the ball on its own seven-yard line with 3:23 left in the fourth quarter.

The Redhawks marched down 93 yards and with a minute left Emerson Geilman found Faletau Satuala in the end zone for a touchdown and the 20-19 lead.

“We rep it every day at practice, so it kind of becomes second nature,” said Satuala. “Just me and (Gielman) have a really good connection, it was perfectly thrown ball. When it comes with the pressure I don’t even really think about it we just do it.”

Coach Freckleton says Satuala means more to his program than just being a great football player. “He is a dude, the best high school football player I’ve ever coached,” said Freckleton.  “We’ve seen him make remarkable plays all year. We just believe in that guy so much, again it just goes back to the belief and the confidence, and he couldn’t be a better kid. Hard worker on and off the field.

“His control of his body is just remarkable, but then some of my favorite stuff is how he cheers on his teammates. The way he loves up his team and never about himself and its remarkable for a star like that to be so humble.”

With 18 seconds left in the half, Alta faced a 3 and 10 to keep its season alive. However, Bountiful’s Jacob Brooks came up with a big sack for a seven yard loss, which all but sealed the game for Bountiful.

“I think it’s the trust in our defense,” said Brooks. “We have multiple returning starters, we played with each other for a long time and I think we just trust each other just enough to where we can all make plays together.”

It was a big win for Bountiful, who will face top-seeded Timpview in the 5A championship game on Nov. 17 at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

“It means the world, we come from a program that we talk a lot about tradition,” said Freckleton. “We play on our tradition, what’s come before us and it’s been a long time since we’ve played here. We’re making our tradition and building on it, it’s a great moment and a sweet moment and we’re going to enjoy it and we’ve got to win the thing.”