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- Lone Peak secured a narrow 24-21 victory over Lehi in a Region 3 football matchup, showcasing their defensive strength in the final moments of the game.
- Despite a late 53-yard pass from Lehi's Jett Niu to Legend Glasker, the Knights' defense held firm, denying a last-second touchdown or field goal attempt.
- Lehi coach Ed Larson expressed frustration at the final series, acknowledging coaching errors and a disputed play call that contributed to their inability to capitalize on the opportunity.
HIGHLAND — The heroics of Jett Niu and Legend Glasker had Lehi on the brink of an epic victory over Lone Peak Thursday night.
With under a minute remaining, Niu threw a 53-yard heave to Glasker to set the Pioneers on the 12-yard line with a shot for a game-winning touchdown or a field goal for the tie.
Unfortunately for Lehi, it picked the wrong defense to drum up a comeback victory against.
A Lone Peak side that has found a knack for getting big stops throughout the season had one more to offer, and the Knights held on for a 24-21 win in Region 3 action.
After Lehi spiked the ball to stop the clock at the 12-yard line, the Knights forced an incompletion, then a catch for no gain on a screen pass, which kept the time running and confused the Pioneers — who believed the ball hit the turf.
With no time to send out the field goal unit, Lehi rushed its final play, and Niu's fourth-down throw to the end zone was denied by Lone Peak.
"I love our defense so much," Lone Peak coach Bart Brockbank said. "Even though I want our offense to be able to kneel it out, watching our defense come through in the clutch has been good this year."
For Lehi, the outcome was far more frustrating.
"This one's on the coaches," Lehi coach Ed Larson said. "We screwed that last series up and we've got to fix that.
"We thought the screen was incomplete because it hit the ground," Larson added about the third-down play. "But the officials wouldn't make a call one way or the other, and then when they walked out and said, 'no, it's complete,' that took us into fourth down and the clock got too low. We just had to call four verts to find somebody open, and just do the best we could with that."
Lone Peak, ranked second in the 6A RPI, improves to 7-2 and now has a foothold on second place in the Region 3 standings with one regular season game to go.
Lehi, ranked fourth in the RPI, drops to 6-2 and third in region.
Both teams had their chances to secure the important win, led by quarterbacks who had big games.
Lone Peak's Kepa Niumeitolu was 10-of-18 for 183 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and 87 rushing yards. Niu, an Oklahoma State commit, went 22-of-38 passing for 319 yards and two touchdowns.
Lone Peak held a commanding 24-14 lead into the fourth quarter, until Lehi came to life with a 26-yard, one-handed touchdown grab from Glasker, followed by a stop by the Pioneer defense with under two minutes to play.
That opened the chance for more Niu to Glasker magic.
"They're good players," Brockbank said of the duo. "They're hard to contain for an entire game. And I thought the defense did a really good job, for the most part. They had two or three big plays on us tonight, outside of that I'm not sure they moved the ball real well."
To start the game, though, it was Lone Peak making the big plays.
Niumeitolu wasted no time in the Knights' opening possession, taking a deep shot in his first passing attempt and hitting Isaac Staley for a 55-yard touchdown.
The Knights defense then forced two turnovers in its own territory, recovering a fumble then getting an interception by Cade Hanson.
Lehi's offense straightened itself out in the second quarter, with a 43-yard touchdown pass from Niu to Glasker, followed by a 46-yard run up the middle by Tate Barney to take a 14-9 lead.
But after countering with a touchdown before halftime, Lone Peak leaned on a run-heavy attack in the second half, running it 10 out of 13 times on one touchdown drive to go up 24-14.
"We wanted to control of the line of scrimmage, take shots when we could," Brockbank said.
