Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- BYU's fourth annual alumni game highlighted the football program's family atmosphere.
- Blaine and Gavin Fowler played key roles, with Blaine's navy team winning 25-20.
- Coach Kalani Sitake emphasizes unity, with players bonding over shared experiences and memories.
PROVO — Several families have had generations play for BYU football, including father and son Blaine and Gavin Fowler taking turns at quarterback in crunch time of Friday's fourth annual BYU football alumni game at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
A much bigger family was the primary focus of Friday's festivities, however, and that was the BYU football family.
"It doesn't matter whether you played for LaVell (Edwards), like I did, or played for Bronco (Mendenhall), or played for Gary Crowton or you're part of the Kalani (Sitake) era," Blaine Fowler said. "(Kalani's) made it just one family."
The alumni and current players came together Friday in meetings planned by Sitake. The day culminated at LaVell Edwards Stadium, where the former players were divided into "royal" and "navy" teams based on the sometimes-controversial dual-blue color scheme the Cougars sport.
The navy team, led by Blaine Fowler and 2002 graduate Charlie Peterson at quarterback, led for the majority of the game and came away with its third win in the alumni series.
Peterson threw the first and last touchdowns of the game, finding Rob Daniel to go up 7-2 in the first quarter, and then Naufahu Tahi for the game-winner with 19 seconds left in a 25-20 win.
Daniel also caught a highlight reel toe-tapping touchdown catch at the back of the end zone from Blaine Fowler to re-take the lead late in the game after the royal team got its first advantage, 13-11, early in the fourth quarter on a connection between Gavin Fowler and Tanner Balderee.
Gavin Fowler did not play quarterback during his playing career at BYU that ended in 2018, but he took over royal team passing duties late in the game from Brandon Doman and Jackson Brown, who were 20-plus years removed from their college heyday.
"I didn't see anything"
— BYUtv Sports Nation (@BYUSportsNation) March 29, 2025
Team Navy's game winning touchdown @Tahi3815pic.twitter.com/4UKZNGAcwd
The royal team had several chances to win the game in the 19 seconds after navy's final score — including a BYU vs. Arizona State-esque false ending where the field had to be cleared for a second left on the clock — but receiver Aleva Hifo was unable to come down with the ball in the end zone on the final play.
Despite the close and competitive game that went down to the wire (twice), it was all smiles, hugs and laughs after the final whistle for a group of men that bonded over a shared love for a sport and a university.
"You get all these different personalities out here on the field, man, it makes you really realize why football is such a special sport," Daniel said. "When you're trying to get kids to come here, they have to know that after this, there's like a family, right? There's a bond, and we're all gonna take care of each other."
Blaine Fowler arrived at BYU as a player in 1981 and has been part of the football program ever since, most prominently on the broadcast side. He was also quick to point out to the media and other players that he was the only one present who was part of the 1984 national championship team at BYU.
"It feels like every player that's come through the program is family to me," he said. "These kids in this program are special, and they always have been."
