Mountain Ridge Rolls on Senior Night Against Crosstown Rival Herriman

The first quarter was a stalemate. The second quarter was a statement.

Mountain Ridge and Herriman both moved the ball on their opening drives Friday night, and both came away empty after missed field goals. It was 0-0 after one on Senior Night at Mountain Ridge. Then the Sentinels scored 28 points in a single quarter, and the crosstown game was decided by halftime. Mountain Ridge won 45-7.

Mountain Ridge is 8-0, first on our Utah board and 34th on the SPIN Power 100. Both teams came in 3-0 in Region 2, and Mountain Ridge is now the only one left unbeaten. Herriman is 6-2.

The catch

Tytan DeJong's first touchdown is the play Herriman will be talking about all week. Jaxon Hunt slipped the rush, scrambled and threw for the corner of the end zone. DeJong went fully horizontal, laid out parallel to the turf and landed flat on his back with the ball still in his hands. Thirty-nine yards, and one of the best catches we have seen anywhere this season.

The stadium was rocking. Then DeJong rolled over, tried to get up, took a couple of steps and went back down. He had knocked the wind out of himself on the landing, and for a few long seconds the place went quiet.

About 30 seconds later he was back on his feet, and he started celebrating. So did everybody else. It was quite the moment.

He nearly had another one. DeJong went up in the corner for a ball that officials ruled out of bounds. We were in that corner with our cameras, and on the slow-motion replay it sure looks like a catch to us. In the fourth quarter he laid out again, this time for a 29-yard touchdown from Hunt with 1:34 left. Two touchdowns, and a third that could have been. It was a big-time performance from a big-time athlete.

Twenty-eight in one quarter

Tyson Dunn opened the scoring on a 4-yard run with 8:55 left in the half. DeJong made it 14-0 on the next drive. Cole Uluave intercepted a Herriman pass, and Hunt found Bennett Neilson from 11 yards out to make it 21-0.

Then came the sequence that decided the game. Herriman drove inside the Mountain Ridge 10 and fumbled. A score there makes it 21-7 and changes the night. Instead, Mountain Ridge took over at its own 1.

We were standing right behind Hunt on the next snap. He looked at his first read, then his second, stepped up and to his right in the pocket, and dropped a perfectly layered deep ball for a long completion that got the Sentinels out from under their own goalposts. They finished the 99-yard drive when Hunt hit Dunn for a 17-yard touchdown with 26 seconds left in the half. That was the dagger. From the Herriman sideline, you could feel the air go out of the place.

The best quarterback in Utah

Hunt threw four touchdown passes, and he looked every bit the part of the best quarterback in the state. He is calm in the pocket and he does not panic. He takes risks, but they are calculated ones, and he threw several really great balls on Friday.

Herriman got away from what worked

Herriman ran the ball well early and put together long drives on the ground. Once it fell behind, it threw more, and the plays came out slower. It is hard to stay with the run down 21-0. We think that is exactly when a team has to stay with who it is.

The second half

The third quarter was scoreless. Will O'Neil kicked a 24-yard field goal early in the fourth, and a minute later Uluave returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown to make it 38-0. Herriman got on the board after intercepting a Mountain Ridge pass and returning it to the 6, and Hayes Priest scored on a 3-yard touchdown pass. DeJong's second touchdown closed it out.

Carrying Utah's flag

The Mountain Ridge offense scores in a hurry, and its defense is as good as it gets in Utah. It hits hard and it plays under control. Mountain Ridge has now beaten Herriman five straight times, and right now it has to be the favorite to win the state title.

Skyridge, second on our Utah board, won 27-24 at Lone Peak on Friday. Mountain Ridge already beat Skyridge 41-26 in August and pulled away from it in the second half. For now, the Sentinels are carrying the flag for Utah.

SPIN's live coverage of this game was presented by Fiiz Drinks Herriman Academy Village.