- Springville defeated Brighton 30-21 at Rice-Eccles stadium to reach the 5A championship.
- Naufahu and Valeti combined for 148 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
- Springville faces Orem next, seeking revenge for a Sept. 5 loss.
SALT LAKE CITY — It was a tightly contested matchup at Rice-Eccles Stadium Thursday, with Springville capitalizing off the game's only turnover to defeat Brighton 30-24 and move on to face Orem in the 5A state championship.
"Brighton is a heck of a ball club, they are coached so well," Springville head coach David Valeti said. "I'm proud of our boys for believing in our scheme and ourselves and we made enough plays to win."
The Red Devils' ground and pound style of offense was dominant all game long, with the team totaling 173 rushing yards and averaging 8.5 yards per carry in the first half. Springville was able to also find success through the air despite deploying multiple players behind center.
Lisiate Valeti, Tua Naufahu and Beckett Burton all took snaps in the backfield, with Burton serving as the primary quarterback, while Valeti and Naufahu taking turns running the ball out of the Wildcat formation. Naufahu totaled 100 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns.
"He's got warrior blood," Valeti said of his running back Naufahu. "He's put in the time in our program for a decade and there's nobody else we'd want with the ball with two minutes left in their hand."
Burton was effective through the air in the win, throwing for 169 yards on 9-of-14 passing. Zach Henderson made the most of limited passing plays and hauled in four receptions for 109 yards.
The Bengals outgained the Red Devils with 351-342, but field position and negative plays affected Brighton, proving to be the difference maker.
Springville got on the board first after the defense forced a three-and-out series on Brighton's first drive, with quarterback Ryce Palepoi punting it away after trying to draw the Red Devils offsides. An impressive drive by Springville was capped off with a 5-yard rushing touchdown from Valeti to give the Red Devils the early lead.
That started a back-and-forth between the two schools, with the Bengals finding success on the ground during their second possession of the game. Cole Heemmeyer had some strong carries to begin the drive before Palepoi had a few runs of his own, including one that set the team up at the 3-yard line after bouncing off tackles and reversing up field to set up a first and goal.
William Little scored a 2-yard touchdown run to help tie things up at 7-7. Minutes later, Tua Naufahu exploded for a 44-yard run after it looked like he was going nowhere. He turned nothing into something, which helped set up Springville's answer. Max Harris then punched in an 11-yard touchdown to help the Red Devils take a 14-7 lead.
A Heemeyer's 25-yard run helped set up another touchdown for Brighton, as Little scored his second rushing touchdown on a 3-yard run to tie up the game.
Springville executes a two-minute drill at the end of the first half to get 3 more points on Ben Smith's 29-yard field goal that was set up by a 31-yard reception from Zach Henderson.
Both offenses struggled out of the gate to begin the second half, with both teams punting on their first two drives.
Henderson made another spectacular grab, this time a 41-yard reception near the Springville sideline. A couple plays later, Valeti found the end zone for the second time on a 21-yard rushing touchdown to help the Red Devils extend their lead to 23-14 after a missed PAT.
Two big catches by Brighton's Slade Taylor helped set up a 3-yard rushing touchdown from defensive tackle Samuel Tauvao to cut the deficit to 23-21. But Naufahu answered with a 2-yard run to reclaim a two-score lead.
Brightom could only add a field goal the rest of the way, despite an attempt at an onside kick that Dax Matheson narrowly missed out on before the football went out of bounds.
Brighton managed to get the ball back, but Toki sealed the victory with an interception — the first of the game — and secured a spot in the 5A championship game against Orem.
"We've played these guys before, we know how good they are but we also know how good we are and our guys will be ready," Valeti said. "We'll prepare like every other week. I know they'll be ready to go next week."
