There was a strong message from the Lone Peak coaching staff ahead of Wednesday’s matchup with Layton Christian: Stay composed.
That was the exactly what the Knights needed to hear as their composure was the difference maker in a chippy 3-2 home win over Layton Christian. The Eagles were fresh off an impressive 1-0 road win against Farmington, and they gave Lone Peak nearly all it could handle.
“We talked to our captains about being very composed and not allowing game score to dictate what happens,” said Lone Peak head coach Ben Nilson. “So, I think leadership on the field played a big part in staying composed.”
Layton Christian opened with a few early dangerous balls and nearly picked off an early goal. Though the Knights’ offense was quick to mount an attack and Seth Larkin was first to strike, giving Lone Peak a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.
The Eagles didn’t trail for long, as Theo Villela scored on a free kick in the 20th minute to tie it 1-1. Layton Christian further swayed the momentum in the second half, scoring in the 46th minute on a goal from Mickael Duailibi. All of a sudden, Lone Peak found itself trailing 2-1 on its home field.
“Layton Christian are ballers, they’re awesome,” said Larkin. “They get hyped every time they win the ball. Coach told us to stay composed, and I think the team did a fantastic job staying calm when we went down. We knew that we could play and we knew that we could win.”
Lone Peak struggled to find the equalizer, but its chance finally came on a corner kick in the 59th minute. Knights’ Patrick Stevenson placed the ball in a perfect spot for Crozier Zabriskie to head it in and tie the game 2-2.
In the 70th minute, Larkin came up again for Lone Peak with his second goal of the game and taking back the 3-2 lead. Layton Christian fought untill the end, finishing the last few minutes with some close chances, but the Lone Peak defense held on to stay undefeated on the season.
“There’s no one I’d rather play with,” Larkin said. “Whenever we score everyone gets up. Everyone supports each other and it’s the best group of guys ever.”
The past two seasons, Lone Peak had strong teams that were certainly 6A title threats. However, the Knights were stunned by Syracuse in the 2023 semifinals and narrowly lost in a shootout to Bingham in last year’s quarterfinals. This year’s Lone Peak team is filled with seniors and is showing early in the season that it can pull out tight games.
“I think they executed really well,” Nilson said. “They stayed composed, that was the number one thing that we talked about in our team huddle, being mature throughout the game from start to finish and not allowing Layton to just kind of come after us because they’re very well coached, very good organized team. I think our maturity played a role in today’s success.”
“I think they’re gonna make a deep run in the playoffs,” Nilson said. “I think we have the right group of guys that can hopefully bring us deep into the playoffs.”