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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Brighton came into its region matchup against East hoping to show its dominance and improve to a perfect 4-0 in region play and 6-1 overall, but at what cost?
East had other plans, though.
Brighton failed to dominate East, and the final result, a 21-20 win for the Bengals, came down to a game of inches.
The Bengals held a 7-point lead as East had the ball for the final possession of the night. The Leopards drove the length of the field before quarterback Dameon Crosby utilized a QB sneak through Brighton's defense with 12.8 seconds left for what was expected to be the game-tying score.
East wanted a win, though, and elected for a 2-point conversion try. The controversial try left many in attendance with opposite conclusions on whether East crossed the plane and scored the game-winning 2-point conversion. The refs, though, called the try short and East came up short of its upset bid over Brighton.
The Bengals started off the scoring Friday night when Nash Matheson received a tipped pass over his defender for a 41-yard touchdown to give the home team a 7-0 lead with 11:52 left in the half.
East's John Amone later intercepted Brighton quarterback Jack Johnson to put the Leopards on Brighton's 21-yard line. The short drive was capped off with a 1-yard QB sneak from Crosby to even the score 7-7 just before the half.
Both teams came out of the break hot. Brighton scored a touchdown on a quarterback sneak of its own to take the one-score lead before East responded immediately with a 80-yard dash to the house by Nasio Otukolo to, once again, tie the game.
But as Brighton pushed to take the lead again, Johnson went down with an apparent leg injury. Sophomore backup Bubba Ellis got the nod under center and picked up where Johnson left off, and threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Matheson for his second touchdown of the night, which turned out to be the game-winner.
Bengals defensive end Easton Adamson, who came up big on defense with a couple sacks Friday night, said the team is "just rallying around Jack, giving him the love that he needs." Brighton will likely prepare for next week's matchup against Alta without Johnson.
East, which can take pride in keeping the game close against Brighton, will set their eyes on Skyline next week.
