On a homecoming night with BYU signee Carson Su’esu’e at his best, the Granger defense is what truly made head coach Pala Vaitu’u proud.
“They’ve really come around in the last couple of weeks,” Vaitu’u said of his defensive starters. “We’ve switched some things up, so a lot of thing are basically new. Man, they just keep getting better and better. I can’t wait to see them In a couple more weeks.”
Vaitu’u will have to wait to see what his defensive unit truly evolves into, but as for the alumni that returned home to Granger on a Thursday night, the Lancers had easily their best defensive performance of the season, forcing four turnovers in a 33-6 romp over Kearns, a win that likely moved them into first place in Region 4 owing to a loss by Hunter the same night.
Senior Lancers quarterback Su’esu’e matched his season-high in touchdown passes with four on the evening against one interception. He connected with three different receivers for scoring throws, two of them going to senior wide receiver Landon Figueroa.
By all accounts, the game might as well have been deemed a shutout, but the Cougars were able to get a final possession with just over a minute left in the game and drove its starting offense up against Granger’s younger backups to get a touchdown pass from junior quarterback Bryce Benson to junior running back Kyler Buhler for a 20-yard score as time expired.
Benson struggled immensely against the Lancers’ secondary. Entering the game with just three interceptions all season, he left with three more. The Cougars’ fourth turnover came on a stand-up strip of the ball when a running play turned into a scrum before the play was blown dead.
Although it was Kearns’s only touchdown, the final play was far from the Cougars’ only scoring opportunity. On two different drives in the first quarter, Kearns burst through on big runs to get down inside Granger’s 10-yard line only to come up scoreless both times, the first on a missed field goal, the second on an interception returned for roughly 50 yards.
Granger responded to the first with a 90-yard drive from the spot of the miss, relying on powerful running by committee to get into Cougar territory. On Su’esu’e’s first pass attempt, he connected with junior tight end Maka Sonasi for a 38-yard touchdown.
After Granger’s defense forced a three-and-out, Su’esu’e took advantage of a short field and busted out a long run to get inside the Kearns 30-yard line by himself, then threaded the needle on a 29-yard strike to Figueroa to get a 13-0 lead.
On the ensuing drive, Kearns again got a big run only to be tracked down again by a quicker defender. Once again Granger’s defense stepped up to force Kearns to remain scoreless as a tipped pass went into the hands of Lancer defensive back Q Tulau.
With the Lancers threatening, Cougar defender Gabe Talia picked off an errant throw to regain possession for Kearns, shutting down Granger’s shot at an early thee-score lead.
After much of the second half went without incident, Su’esu’e got caught trying to scramble with 30 seconds to go in the half and fumbled the ball backwards. Granger was able to recover it and get a 3rd-and-20 opportunity.
With under 30 seconds to go, Su’esu’e stood calmly in the pocket and delivered a strike to Figueroa for all 20 yards and then some. With under 10 seconds remaining, the two connected again, this time in the end zone for 21 yards to give the Lancers a 19-0 halftime lead.
Midway through the third quarter, Su’esu’e and the offense took a gamble on a fourth-down long shot from inside Lancer territory and it paid off, with Figueroa hauling in the pass. On the next play, senior running back Jordan Tu’uao took a screen pass 25 yards for a TD.
Late in the third quarter, junior defensive back Uisi Tu’uao provided the exclamation on the game for Granger as he intercepted Benson on a slant route and took it 85 yards back untouched for the Lancers’ fifth TD.
The Lancers moved to 4-3 overall and will be rested a little more when they travel to Taylorsville. Kearns dropped to 2-5 and has a date at home with Hunter in Week 8.