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OGDEN — Determined to not let the double overtime loss in last year’s class 3A state championship haunt them again, the Summit Academy Bears mauled their way through the North Sanpete Hawks to capture their first 3A title.
The Bears won 55-18 behind their dynamic senior running back Talmage Brown and a dominant display from their defense.
The first time these two teams met in the regular season, it was a 14-10 victory for the Bears. In that game, Brown was held to only 13 yards rushing, and the Bears scored both touchdowns in the second half to edge out the Hawks on the road.
“You could just see it in (Talmage’s) eyes in warmups, too. He was intense and he was focused,” said Summit Academy head coach Les Hamilton.
This time, the Bears high-powered offense couldn’t be stopped when they were on the field. Brown finished the night with two rushing touchdowns, a passing touchdown, and returned a kick 81 yards for another touchdown. The senior totaled 306 yards of total offense.
Brown was confident in his team coming into the game despite last year’s title game loss.
“We knew this team was special going into the beginning of the year,” said Brown. “If we played our best all year, we would do great. We would do great things and that’s what we showed tonight — that we are the best team in 3A.”
Senior quarterback Kasey Briggs completed 7-of-11 passing for 111 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. He finished 11-of-15 for 149 yards. Briggs got the scoring started when he connected with fellow senior Astchyn Brady with less than 2 minutes in to the first quarter.
His longest touchdown pass of the game came from later when he found JT Kupiec’s outstretched arms to give the Bears a 42-12 lead going into halftime. Briggs later caught a touchdown of his own in the third quarter.
North Sanpete’s offense struggled mightily in the first half until the second quarter when they found some life. During the first half, the Hawks punted seven times, meanwhile the Bears only punted once.
Hawks senior quarterback Chance Clawson scored off a 1-yard sneak, but finished the night at 8-of-22 for 74 yards with an interception.
With such a big lead built by the second half, all Summit Academy had to do was coast and play mistake free football, and they would capture the state championship. Hamilton admitted that the thoughts of last year’s title game loss had crept into his mind during the week leading up the game, but put them to ease.
“It’s been 10 years since I’ve been here, and you just work hard every year. It’s hard to win your last game,” said Hamilton. “[The team] were so intense in practice all week, wanting to do something our school had never done, and that’s win a football state championship.”
“I’m proud of these guys and what they represent, I’m happy for our community and to get this championship. It means a lot.”
Marcos Aragon is the Editor-in-Chief of the Salt Lake Community College student publication, The Globe.
