Players who achieve one-and-done status in college basketball do their best to make an impact in their lone year.
Lone Peak’s football team, on the other hand, was full of starters this season who were one-and-done not by choice.
The Knights’ lineup featured multiple seniors who were significant contributors in their only real shot at glory. Barely any of them saw time on last year’s state runner-up team, not to mention a state championship appearance in 2015 when they were only sophomores.
It didn’t go according to the hopes and wishes of this Lone Peak senior crew as the Knights fell to East 28-13 in Friday’s Class 6A state semifinal.
“It’s just kind of like a sick feeling because we could easily have won that game,” said Lone Peak receiver Cody Collins, who caught 10 passes for 149 yards and a pair of touchdowns. “Little mistakes we make here and not being able to get some stuff down, and it ended up hurting us in the long run.”
A 39-yard touchdown pass from Brock Jones to Collins late in the first half made it 7-7 at intermission.
His second TD came with 21 seconds left — with many missed opportunities sandwiched between the scores.
“Five trips to the red zone, only get (13) points, you can’t do that,” Lone Peak coach Bart Brockbank said. “We had Cody wide open early, had two guys open in the end zone in the first half.
“The kids played hard. They did what they could. You just can’t miss opportunities like that.”
Before the season, Brockbank listed a total of four starters who had played the same role the year before.
Collins, as well as fellow receivers Kaden Clemons and Brigham Trowbridge, had difficulty fighting off tears after the loss. They, as well as Jones and linebacker Logan Greer (the Knights’ leading tackler Friday with 14) all saw most of their varsity time this year as seniors.
That might change a little next year.
Juniors like safety Jacob Mumford, defensive end Jared Fotu and fullback Masen Wake saw significant playing time in 2017.
“I think we’ve got a lot of young guys, and I think it’s nice we’re getting a lot of time this year,” Mumford said. “We’re learning.”