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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Brighton sophomore quarterback Preston Ferran threw the ball exactly three times before the fourth quarter. But with a trip to the 5A semifinals on the line and a two-touchdown deficit, coach Casey Sutera called Ferran's number.
Ferran threw for 131 yards in the fourth quarter and put the Bengals in position to come back and beat Olympus 17-14 Friday. Brighton will now face Bountiful next Friday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
"Probably should've started throwing it earlier with him," Sutera said. "That's a great job by a sophomore quarterback that we put in position to have to go win the game and do it."
Ferran didn't throw any touchdown passes, but his long balls gave Brighton prime field position. He threw for 71 yards with just three passes midway through the fourth, which led to Beau La Fleur's 2-yard rushing touchdown. Ferran's 35-yard pass led to Mason Haertel's 4-yard rushing touchdown late in the frame, tying the game at 14-14.
"We were just trying to beat them up physically the whole game," Ferran said. "When they got up 14, we were just like, 'Screw it, let's go score.' So we just came out throwing."
And it was kicker Thomas Sorensen who converted a 33-yard field goal as time expired to secure Brighton's 17-14 victory.
"I've never felt anything like it," Sorensen said of his game-winner.
The Bengals trailed 14-0 before Ferran led the comeback. Haertel played as the de facto quarterback for the first three quarters but only ran the ball. He had 40 carries on the evening for 149 yards.
"It's easy to trust a guy like that," Sutera said of Haertel. "When you want to lean on someone, he's a good guy to lean on. We never doubted him for a second. Every team tries to take him away, he still gets his a little bit. Guys like him are the heart and soul of our team."
It truly seemed like Olympus was going to run away with the game from how the first three quarters played out.
James Scheldorf scored on a 17-yard touchdown run to give the Titans a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter. Early in the third, Max Rice threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Caden Lloyd for a 14-0 lead. Adding to that, Olympus' special teams blocked a 32-yard field goal attempt early in the game.
But none of those things fazed the Bengals.
"Our team this whole year — just resilience, toughness, adversity," Sutera said. "Every single time, they answer."
