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SPRINGVILLE — Can anyone stop Tevita Valeti?
After rushing for 1,679 yards and 22 scores a season ago, the Springville senior opened the new campaign with a monstrous five touchdown effort in a 34-7 Red Devils win over Dixie Friday night.
The most impressive of Valeti's end zone trips was his 40-yard burst in the first quarter — his second overall on the night — which he completed with just one shoe on after his cleat somehow flew off his foot on the run.
"It felt weird running without a shoe," Valeti quipped after the game. "We have new players on the (offensive) line for their first time ever playing on varsity, but they locked it down for us."
The Red Devils defense enjoyed its own dominant effort and shut down the Flyers to leave them scoreless, aside from a singular kick return score for Lucito Bennett.
"Our defensive line is the strength of our team, and we got some guys on the back end of the defense that are ballhawks and good tacklers," Springville head coach Dave Valeti said. "We challenged them, and they rose to the occasion."
Springville opens the new season 1-0 and now heads for a road match with Bonneville on Aug. 18.
"There's so much that we can improve on, and that's a great thing," Dave Valeti said. "We played solid, but we need to get better. We need to be better in 10 weeks than we are now."
