High school football: Bountiful routs Northridge 42-14

Bountiful came out swinging Friday night to topple previously undefeated Northridge, an announcement that the Redhawks won't be moved easily off the top of the Region 5 heap.

"Every week, you have to show up in this region. If you don't, you can get beat," Bountiful coach Jason Freckleton said. "It's a great region, great coaches, great schemes. We have to focus on the week we're in and get a little better."

Bountiful's potent rushing attack — led by hard-charging junior Siaki Fekitoa — set the physical tone immediately. After several chunk plays, quarterback Emerson Geilman barreled behind his center for a 5-yard touchdown to open the scoring with 7:11 left in the first quarter.

After Bountiful forced a quick Northridge punt, Fekitoa went back to work, dancing through arm tackles to set up a 4-yard trick play offensive lineman touchdown from 280-pound senior Caleb Norris.

Bountiful's defense then stood up again, forcing a punt that bounced into wide receiver Connor Clark's hands before he weaved down the Bountiful sideline for a 50-yard return touchdown to make it 21-0 with 10:12 left before halftime.

"It bounced right to me and I was like 'Oh yeah, we got this, we got this,'" Clark said. "We had great blocks off the edges. I saw that hole so I just took it. It was awesome. It felt really good."

Clark said the offense's mentality was to jump all over Northridge from the outset and never let up, a message he manifested after Geilman dropped a perfect toss over his shoulder for a 33-yard touchdown and the 28-0 lead.

"It was a go route and the quarterback threw that ball perfectly in there," Clark said. "We always work on those in practice because over the shoulders are very important, they come in handy."

Northridge's offense stalled again and Geilman led a 63-yard scoring drive punctuated with a Fekitoa 1-yard touchdown burrow for the commanding 35-0 advantage at halftime.

Fekitoa, who had a club protecting his injured hand, said he "clamps down" on the ball to secure the handoff and that his juking is the best part of his game.

"Just getting out in space and doing something," Fekitoa said.

The Knights showed some life after the break, ending the shutout with a quick out route connection from Trey Nye to Chase Harris for a 2-yard touchdown to make it 35-6 after a blocked extra point attempt.

Bountiful running back Zeke Murdock capitalized on another gashing run from Fekitoa with a 20-yard scoring tote of his own to emphasize Bountiful's victory with 10 minutes left in the game.

Freckleton said he still feels a target on Bountiful's back after the Redhawks' trip to the 5A title game last season, a motivating factor for his team to validate that respect.

"We know that no one is going to take us lightly. Everyone wants to beat Bountiful and we want that," Freckleton said. "We want to be fighting off people from the top."