Hawks still undefeated, polish off

Red Devils, 51-13

By Matt Harris

Staff writer

9-17-2020

MOAB—With yet another lopsided matchup to feast on, the North Sanpete football team ate up Grand County so early it could have been considered breakfast.

The Hawks were up by 35 or more at halftime for the fourth straight game as they manhandled the Red Devils on their home field, 51-13, last Friday, to move to 5-0 on the season.

In further developments, the initial RPI rankings by the UHSAA released last Monday ranked the Hawks at No. 2 behind fellow undefeated Summit Academy.

“We wanted to start strong and stay healthy this game,” Coach Rhett Bird said. “It’s always tough traveling that far and finding the energy for the first series, and I thought our kids did a great job with managing their energy to begin the game. We played fast, and some other guys were able to get involved early.”

The North Sanpete offense totaled a mere 215 total yards, having a light workload thanks to a dominant performance by the defense. Junior quarterback Landon Bowles completed 8 of 13 passes for 87 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. It was only Bowles’ second turnover of the season.

Senior Trevin Morley led the rushing attack in the first part of the game with 8 carries for 68 yards and a touchdown, while senior Jordan Watts led the second unit and rushed 6 times for 48 yards and two touchdowns.

Despite being the backup running back, Watts has three touchdowns now on the year and over 100 rushing yards on 18 carries. His 6.2 yards per carry average leads all rushers on the team with over 5 attempts.

“Jordan has done a great job in that second group, and I told him he needs to be involved as much as he can at practice and be ready when his number is called,” Bird said. “You never know what could happen, and he is a great example of someone that is engaged at practice even if he isn’t getting the reps.”

The Hawks got on the board in the first three minutes as Bowles completed a catch-and-run touchdown to senior Cole Mickel for 15 yards, the first of Mickel’s two scores on the day.

Grand responded on the ensuing kickoff with an impressive return all the way down to the North Sanpete 35-yard line, but Grand quickly went four-and-out on their first drive.

The Red Devils pulled another trick as a Grand defender picked off Bowles on a difficult pass, but two plays into Grand’s drive, a solid hit by junior linebacker Andy Mower jarred the ball loose, and sophomore safety PJ Cook scooped it up and took it 50 yards back for a defensive touchdown. Cook starred on defense, also having his second interception of the season later in the game.

Late in the third quarter with the game in hand, junior kicker Clayton Lewis turned heads with a 44-yard field goal for the Hawks’ final points, the longest made field goal for North Sanpete since 2005.

The Hawks will be at home this Friday to face rival Delta in what is expected to be another lopsided victory for North Sanpete.