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HIGHLAND — Lone Peak head coach Bart Brockbank believes his team has a certain "aura" about it.
He explains it as a collective sense of confidence his players have, that they believe they're capable of winning every game they play, no matter the challenge.
Even if the opponent is Corner Canyon.
On Friday night, Lone Peak turned its own self-assurances into a reality. Against a nationally-ranked Chargers program that defeated IMG Academy just eight days ago, it was the Knights' turn to pull off a thrilling win, besting Corner Canyon 28-21.
"They're not cocky where they don't work, but they're bold enough to think they can beat anyone in the nation," Brockbank said.
The Knights' defense wasn't intimidated by the Corner Canyon offense that out-gunned IMG Academy last week, and hung 70 points on American Fork in Week 1.
Lone Peak's defensive front was able to sustain pressure on quarterback Helaman Casuga; and in turn made numerous big plays throughout the evening, forcing a first-possession interception and four turnovers on downs.
Meanwhile, Lone Peak's offense was dialed in early, relying on quarterback Kepa Niumeitolu's smooth play-action attack to score four touchdowns in the first half to build a 28-7 halftime lead.
"We're not just going to let them walk in here and walk over us, because it's Corner Canyon," senior captain Landan Goff said.
"Even though they beat a top team like IMG, we just told ourselves that they're just another team," added defensive lineman Bott Mulitalo. "They bleed like we bleed. So we came out, we started out strong and we hit them in the mouth."
The stunning result didn't come without drama, however, as the Chargers, who were without star receiver Jerome Myles — who was injured on the second play of the game and later returned to the sideline with crutches — came storming back.
The Chargers' defense shutout Lone Peak in the second half, while Casuga manufactured a pair of scoring drives to cut the deficit to a single possession.
Trailing 28-21, Corner Canyon had the ball at the Knights' 36-yard-line with 30 seconds left to play and a real chance of spoiling the host's victory party. But on a night of huge plays from the Knights' defense, they mustered one more.
Lone Peak forced consecutive Corner Canyon incompletions on throws into the end zone, then benefited from a holding call. With five seconds remaining, Casuga's last desperation heave to the end zone never came, as Cooper Stosich came around the right side for the sack, and the Lone Peak students streamed onto the field in pandemonium.
"It was huge," Brockband said. "We knew we had to get pressure on them because they had to get those receivers deep. Danny (Morton) called a great play to get the twist in there, (Stosich) twisted right into it and sacked him."
The win was ultimately a credit to the cushion Lone Peak provided itself, which came from a near-perfect first half on each side of the ball. It began with an interception by Wes Valgardson on the second play of the game, followed by a 23-yard touchdown run from Niumeitolu.
Though Corner Canyon answered with a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, then got the ball back on a Niumeitolu fumble, momentum quickly shifted back to the Knights, who got a third-down stop and forced a punt.
Moments later, Lone Peak was in the end zone on a 58-yard touchdown pass from Niumeitolu to Bear Tenney. The rest of the half saw more of the same, with consecutive Chargers turnover on downs, each followed by touchdown runs from Niumeitolu.
"We just didn't get our kids ready to play," Corner Canyon coach Eric Kjar said. "We've talked about it but, obviously, we didn't do enough to try to get them ready to play; and Lone Peak's a good team, they've got a really good defense and they're coached well."
Though the Chargers found their groove in the second half, Kjar admitted the loss of Myles early in the game impacted the team.
"It's tough for sure," Kjar said of the injury to Myles. "He's a great kid, great player. We lost Bryton (Brady), our running back who's a really great kid, a really great player last week. … You just have to find a way to work through it, and that's part of football."
