A night of 'Brighton football'

On Aug. 24, the Deseret News sent me to cover the Brighton-Fremont high school football game. Brighton played well and put the clamps on the Silverwolves, who seem to be rebuilding after reaching the 5A state championship game the last two years. Here is the article that appeared in the paper the next day.

By Bruce Smith

For the Deseret News

             COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS – As senior running back Uaea Masina ran off the field after scoring his second touchdown of the night, he was greeted by an assistant coach with the comment of the night.

            “Now, that’s Brighton football,” he said.
            The Bengals surprised Fremont, and possibly even themselves, with a convincing 27-0 victory Friday night, improving to 2-0 on the season with both wins coming against Region 1 foes.
            “We wanted to build on last week,” said Brighton coach Ryan Bullett. “That team (Fremont) beat us twice last year, and I thought we were pretty good. Tonight, the kids up front did a very nice job.”
            Noseguard J.J. Mahe and his defensive cohorts dominated. The Bengals limited Fremont to 150 total yards. The Silverwolves’ only scoring threat came in the second quarter and it ended with a pass interception in the end zone.  Another key point occurred when Fremont’s first four possessions of the second half were three-and outs.
            “I just did what I was told and that was to bring a hard hat,” said Mahe. “In the first half, we were just trying to get to know our opponent … kind of like boxing. Then we just started playing our game.”
            Brighton’s “game” is smash-mouth football.             Offensively, Masina rushed for 118 yards on 20 carries, and his little brother, Oso, had 103 more. When the Bengals avoided penalties, they moved the football and kept hold of the ball.
            The win was probably one of Brighton’s most dominant in a while. Fremont felt it, too. Coach Kory Bosgieter was unavailable for comment. He and the Silverwolves boarded their buses as quickly as possible.
            The Silverwolves, who reached the 5A championship game the last two seasons, dropped to 0-2. Garrett Gallegos spent most of the night at quarterback. He threw for 125 yards, including a couple of long completions to Kade Criswell and Cole Bingham. About the only other highlight came when Parker Preator blocked an extra-point attempt.
            Fremont, however, had no running attack. They were held to minus-4 yards on the ground. The longest run was an 8-yard scamper by Karson Garcia.
            Uaea Masina eclipsed that the first time he carried the ball. He and Oso Masina shared the ball on the Bengals’ opening drive, which ended with Oso’s 6-yard touchdown run.
            Several minutes later, Brighton stopped Fremont on its own 1-yard line and got great field position. That led to 3-play, 32-yard drive that ended on an 11-yard scoring run by Uaea Masina. It was 14-0 at halftime.
            With Fremont unable to move the ball, the Bengals kept the momentum. Bullett wants it to continue. He isn’t ready to call his team a contender yet, especially with a road trip to Sky View next week.
            “I remember a couple of years ago, we started with some big wins and were 3-0 and it went downhill after that,” he said. “We’re in a tough region. We’ll keep playing them one at a time and see what happens.”