High school football: Haertel romps, defense clamps down in 35-0 Brighton win over Highland

Mason Haertel planted his foot, charged through the middle of his offensive line, saw nothing but open grass in front of him and outran everyone on the field for an 81-yard scoring rumble.

Brighton has a bell cow ‘back who may be best in the state and a tough-nosed defense that led the Bengals to a 35-0 shutout over Highland in the team’s 5A region opener Friday and a 4-0 record overall on the season.

Haertel, a track athlete in the 100, 200 and 4x100 meter distances, was aligned on the right side of the backfield and was supposed to hit a cutback, but found an open lane and charged ahead.

“I realized no one’s tackling me, I did break one tackle,” Haertel said. “Shoot, I used my track speed and tried to run it down all the way.”

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With a secure 14-0 lead through some uneven first half offensive execution, the Brighton offense simplified its approach to the singular mission of getting Haertel the ball. After a quick punt to start the second half, the next drive saw Haertel launching seven straight times into the teeth of the defense, churning out 83 yards and running untouched for a 15-yard score and 21-0 lead with 7:38 left in the third quarter.

“We had to put a drive together, we weren’t really clicking that well. That’s a good way to do it, getting the run game going,” Brighton coach Casey Sutera said. “Defense played really well. It was an awesome job.”

The Brighton pass rush was in Highland quarterback Manasa Pela’s lap nearly instantaneously after the snap all night, forcing the Rams offense into quick throws and drifting pockets.

“A lot of the things we do schematically, they have to work together and they have to work within the scheme of the defense,” Sutera said of his defensive front seven. “They take a lot of pride in that and playing really, really hard and running to the football.”

Brighton’s passing game carried the scoring load in the first half with two touchdown tosses from quarterback Ryce Palepoi.

Wide receiver Case Beames climbed the ladder to highpoint a Palepoi toss and pirouetted to secure the opening 14-yard touchdown with 9:49 left in the second quarter.

On the ensuing drive, the Bengals edge rushers strip sacked Pela as he rolled out of the pocket to set up Brighton’s offense inside the 10-yard line. However, a personal foul pushed the Bengals backward into settling for a missed 43-yard field goal attempt.

Highland looked to strike back immediately on the team’s best opportunity of the night. Pela pitched quickly to wide receiver Charlie McConkie who weaved his way through the Brighton secondary and several tackles for an 80-yard score — but his effort was nullified after a Highland block in the back.

The Rams punted instead and Palepoi made quick work of good field position. The quarterback tossed a ball to the Brighton sideline that bounced off two Highland defenders directly into the waiting hands of wide receiver Easton Gustafson for a 38-yard score and 14-0 lead with 4:39 left in the second quarter.

Brighton’s defense put a final stamp on the game with a Dax Matheson interception to set up another Haertel 44-yard romping carry. Beau La Fleur took the baton and finished off the drive with a 6-yard touchdown rush for the decisive score with 6:42 left in the game.

Sutera loves his team’s physicality and toughness entering the bulk of the season’s challenges.

“I know it gets tough here and the region comes up even more, we’ve just got to keep rolling and get better every week,” Sutera said.