High school football: Alta turns back Bingham in battle of former thoroughbreds

One of Utah’s top high school rivalries was rekindled Thursday night, and Tucker Brown and the Alta Hawks celebrated the competitive struggle they remembered it used to be.

Brown threw for one touchdown and ran for another as Alta controlled the line of scrimmage and turned back the Bingham Miners 23-13 in a nonregion game between two of Utah’s football thoroughbreds.

“We were definitely motivated,” said Brown, who completed 26 of 37 passes for 236 yards with no interceptions. “I grew up watching this game. We all know its history and how much it means to everyone.

“You could see it out there. We know each other. It got a little chippy and you saw the personal foul penalties.”

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Both teams have second-year coaches. Alta’s Blake Burdette said he and Bingham’s Josh Johnson agreed last year to renew the storied battle between the two schools four miles apart separated by Interstate 15.

They are also scheduled to play next year, and Burdette said he would like to see the series continue. Between 2004-14, the schools played every year (sometimes twice) and often challenged for the state championship in the state’s top classification.

With Thursday’s win, Alta improved its record to 16-14 against the Miners. The Hawks never trailed this time thanks to Brown’s ability to avoid mistakes, Jack McAllister’s three field goals and a defense that frustrated Bingham, keeping the Miners scoreless until early in the fourth quarter.

“This was a good showing for us … after last week,” said Burdette, whose team fell to Springville 27-21 in the season opener after leading 14-0 in the first quarter.

“This was more of what Alta football is about. We want to play hard and physical and make teams know they have played Alta.”

The Hawks’ offensive line helped establish a running attack and gave Brown just enough time to find his talented receivers on short routes. Brown’s ability to connect to Ber Strong, Evan Morton, Trevyn Cooke and Trevyn Fabrizio resulted in many third-down conversions and long scoring drives.

For the game, Alta had 76 offensive plays, compared to Bingham’s 44.

Morton caught a 30-yard touchdown pass on Alta’s second drive, but the most important part of the game occurred early in the fourth quarter. After the Miners closed to within 16-7 with 11:57 remaining, Brown finished a 13-play, 78-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown run that put the game away.

Bingham, which also lost its opener last week, finally found some energy to narrow the gap, but the Miners hurt themselves with a pair of personal-foul penalties after each of their touchdowns.

After the second score, they needed a two-point conversion to try to close within one possession but the official’s call moved the ball 15 yards further away and a long pass to the end zone fell incomplete.

The Miners struggled offensively behind senior quarterback Boston Singley, but he and Teki Finau showed some spark late in the game. However, they both had to leave in the final minutes due to injuries, and their diagnoses were not immediately known.