Bengals’ fortunes run out at state
The second time wasn’t a charm for Brighton High’s football team.
Faced with the challenge of playing a team it had faced earlier in the season, the Bengals suffered the same outcome, losing to Fremont 43-15 in the first round of the state playoffs. Fremont, which would advance to the 5A championship game for the second straight year, opened a 29-0 lead in the third quarter against Brighton before the Bengals avoided the shutout.
Andy Jones threw a touchdown pass to Zach Wertz and Brayden El-Bakri added a scoring run for Brighton, which had won three consecutive games and five of six heading into the playoffs. However, Fremont rushed for nearly 300 yards as a team, as the outcome was never in doubt.
Brighton (5-4-1 overall, 3-2 region) had lost a play-in game for the state playoffs the previous two seasons to Jordan and Pleasant Grove. Things appeared promising this year, as the Bengals stunned Jordan down the stretch and allowed less than 16 points per game during the regular season. Still, Brighton couldn’t score enough points of its own, averaging 20 points per game.
El-Bakri, Uaea Masina and Elias Fairman combined to rush for 1,501 yards and 16 touchdowns this season, while Jones threw for 1,064 yards and 12 scores. Jones spread the wealth among several receivers. Taylor Covey led the team with 23 catches for 323 yards and four touchdowns. Wertz had 24 catches for 238 yards and four scores and Mark Brewster had 10 catches for 159 yards and two scores. Masina and El-Bakri also proved adept at catching the ball out of the backfield.
El-Bakri was the defensive leader with 79 tackles. Andrew Kenney had 42 tackles, Masina 38, Andrew Willmore 34 and Covey 31. Thomas Peterson had two sacks, and Fairman and Masina each came up with a pair of interceptions for the Bengals.
Though Brighton will lose many skill position players to graduation – only Masina is expected to return – the team appears to be headed down the right path. Over the last three seasons, the Bengals have gone 17-13-1 overall after an 8-23 record during the previous three-year stretch.
Volleyball
Brighton finished eighth at the state tournament, losing to Bingham in the consolation round 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-15). The Bengals lost their opener to Northridge 3-0, but rebounded to defeat Hunter 3-2 and region rival Jordan 3-0 leading up to the match with Bingham.
The match against Hunter was the most hotly contested of the tournament. Brighton won the first two games rather easily (25-18, 25-19) before Hunter won the next two (25-22, 25-21). The Bengals settled down in the fifth and decisive game, pulling out a 15-10 victory.
Brighton (19-13 overall, 9-1 region) captured the Region 3 championship by avenging its only loss to West Jordan 3-0. Emily Mendenhall had 10 kills, 16 assists and 20 digs, while Haylee Wilkes served five aces. The Bengals also swept Copper Hills in the final week of region play.
