Bountiful • Region 7 members didn’t exactly run the table on the opening day of the Class 5A football playoffs as top-ranked Corner Canyon struggled and perennial power Timpview was beaten.
But Jordan held up its end of the bargain.
The Beetdiggers, the No. 4 seed out of the region, got their offense into gear at the end of the first half and defeated host Viewmont 28-20.
And while Jordan (7-4) got key plays, as expected, from senior quarterback Crew Wakley, the biggest one didn’t come about in the usual fashion.
Viewmont (7-4), the Region 5 champion, cut the Beetdiggers’ advantage to 21-13 early in the third quarter and was ready to get back the ball.
But Wakley, Jordan’s punter as well as quarterback, ended that. His kick on fourth down was blocked by the Vikings, but the ball fortuitously bounced right to Wakley, who ran for a first down.
Wakley’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Peyton Yack six plays later moved the visitors lead to 28-13, and Viewmont couldn’t recover.
“I don’t know what to say about that,” Wakley said. “I knew I was getting kinda close [to the Viewmont rushers], but I was thinking I just got to kick it.
“I knew it was going to hit the back of them. And it did, so I just had to go get it. I got a nice bounce — right to me.”
Wakley threw for 182 yards and ran for 110 more, including 14 on the blocked punt.
“I was telling my coaches I had never seen that happen in my life,” Jordan coach Kaleo Teriipaia said. “That’s the whole reason we like Crew back there because you never know what you’re going to get.”
JORDAN 28, VIEWMONT 20 <br>• Jordan quarterback Crew Wakley throws for 182 yards and rushes for 110 yards. <br> • Jacob Shaver rushed for 73 yards for Jordan before leaving with a late first half injury, while Viewmont’s Cameron Brown gains 90 yards on the ground. <br>• The Beetdiggers advance to face Skyridge in the state quarterfinals.
The home team had some chances in the first half and led 10-7 after a 1-yard run by Cameron Brown with 3:26 left before intermission.
But Viewmont, which recovered two Jordan fumbles early, missed three field goals. And the Beetdiggers quickly marched 80 yards after Brown’s TD run and got a 5-yard scoring run by Wakely to go up 14-10 with 1:13 left in the second.
Jordan running back Jacob Shaver, who ran for 73 yards, was injured in the second period and that 80-yard drive saw Wakley’s younger brother, Kale Wakley, catch three passes.
“Both sides of the ball clicked,” said Jordan senior Soni Vunipola, who scored on a 1-yard run and helped keep constant pressure on Viewmont quarterback Davis Weir from a defensive end position. “We came out flat a little bit and had some struggles on both sides with our players not coming out strong. But at halftime our coaches said we needed to pick it up, and we got it done.”