In a meeting of the two very strong single-school teams in Utah, Herriman defeated East HS 49-34 Wednesday night in Salt Lake City.
The new (and temporary, for this year only) league structure in Utah meant that this was the first regular season game for either team against another single school. While there are single-school teams sprinkled throughout the state, some have shifted divisions and others are coming online. A single-school league is expected to return in 2024.
This year's combined Tier 1 includes multi-school teams LCA, Brighton, West Valley, Highland, and Mountain View, leaving Herriman and East the lone top-tier single schools. This game was originally scheduled at East on April 13th, but a scheduling snafu meant a conflict with East's match with touring Denver East, so it was moved to April 24.
East's football stadium is not available on weeknights, so the University of Utah and coach Adam Griffee stepped up and hosted the game at Utah's McCarthy field, which made for an exciting atmosphere under the lights and was as close to being a home game as East could hope for, given that their stadium is a mere two miles down the road.
Both teams have a single blemish this season, dropping a contest to undefeated LCA, and were eager to resume their rivalry. Herriman came in a bit banged up, missing a pair of future BYU commits in flyhalf and captain Logan Regan and stellar second row Henry Ashton, as well as freshman phenom Kemper Castro and emerging senior Carter Kesler in the reserves. East boasted a talented team, led by 8-man Papa Matelau in the forwards, and the dangerous foot and playmaking ability of Rex Bateman in the backs.
Herriman struck quickly after some traded possession gave East a midfield scrum. Captain and inside center Freddy Ta'ai poached from a tackle and immediately moved the ball out to fellow captain, lock Heston Egelund, who rumbled ahead with power, breaking tackles and drawing in several defenders. Captain and three-year starter Eli McQueen saw an advantage out wide and zipped a laser out to a waiting Ta'ai, who raced past three East defenders to touch down in the corner. (Yes Herriman has four captains. Actually they have five. prop/hooker Ike Mickelsen, who has gone a perfect 24-for-24 on lineout throws the past 2 games, is number five.)
The sideline conversion was just missed, but up 5-0 Herriman went right back into East territory with runs from flanker Caleb Sanchez and Ta'ai, but support was slow from a forward movement and East found touch from a penalty. The East lineout was stolen by Holden McKell, who along with Jaron Watson was so dominant in the air that East generally opted to scrum in penalty situations for fear of continued steals from the pair.
Herriman continued to probe into the East side of the field, but the Leopards' line speed in the midfield caused a handling error, and East hit a nifty box kick ahead from the ensuing scrum, which led to a penalty. Matelau was on the spot for the quick tap and, showing nice agility for a big guy, sidestepped a defender and powered over for a converted try to give East a 7-5 lead. The ensuing restart gave a preview of an area of struggle for Herriman all night. Usually a solid team on the restart, they had a terrible go of it on both sides of it, and East took advantage. Bateman's ability to put a beautiful, high ball on the spot, and Herriman's struggle to do the same, provided several momentum shifts.
On this particular restart it was a bit of bad cover from the kicking team and some great skill by East. McKell was not able to corral the ball, which bounced on the ground as too many Herriman played closed in on the ball. Matelau swooped in and connected with his support, leading to a long-range East try and a 12-5 lead for the Leopards.
A nice kick deep in to East territory led to a forced turnover by junior hook Logan Youngblood for Herriman, and go forward from Sanchez and McKell put East on the back foot. They eventually got the ball back, but junior prop Luke Abercrombie blocked a clearing attempt that gave Herriman a lineout and after that Lucky Fisi'ipeau, moving down from center to flyahlf for the game, hit a gap to touch down. Abercrombie, who had never kicked in a match before, slotted the conversion to tie things up. Abercrombie's coaches were unaware of his kicking abilities until he and Youngblood made a hype video to show them this undiscovered talent, and with regular kicker Reagan on the sideline, he made his mark with the boot (more on that later).
East was able to win the restart and go on the attack, eventually earning a scrum from the 22. Matelau picked just as the scrum was collapsing, making it an awkward release for the near-side flanker, and he broke a tackle and outran everyone again en route to his second try. East now led 17-12. Herriman survived a not-10 on the restart when East's grubber ahead went to touch, and Ta'ai set up Watson two phases later for a big break outside. A 3.9 student, Ta'ai has thrown for over 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns as an all-state football quarterback. He also rushed for over 1,500 yards and he certainly showed this running ability a few phases later when he and Fisi'ipeau saw another opportunity. Abercrombie was true again for a 19-17 lead.
While Herriman's scores were by-and-large more on the clinical side, East's tended to be quick and showcased their big-play ability. Such was the case when Herriman (again) did not field the restart well. McKell and Abercrombie did not communicate for the ball and East swooped in the grab the loose rock, offload, and score. Just like that it was 22-19 East.
Once again, Herriman's restart failed to go 10 and gave East a scrum center. Herriman managed to hold them out and when they forced a penalty, Mickelsen and Watson hooked up for another nice lineout. Ta'ai advanced into the East 22 and No. 8 MacRae Parker powered on, breaking through five tackles to score a try out of pure desire. that made it 24-22.
04.26.2024HS Boys
In the second half Herriman's restart woes continued with the ball being taken at about nine meters instead of 10. Bateman made a nice break and offload from the ensuing scrum, and East showed that they have some patience to their game as well, charging forward with their big pack, spinning wide in to space, and going back to the power game once more. Herriman defended through many phases, but eventually the big East forwards wore them down and found some daylight to touch over to go back in front, 27-24. Needing a good restart, junior Ryker Syddall finally gave one to Herriman, with a beautiful deep kick that let his chasers pressure the ball and forced an East obstruction. Abercrombie, looking like a veteran kicker by now, calmly slotted the three points to level the match at 27-27.
The other side of the restart continued to be an issue, however, and Bateman hit another perfect high ball that was timed perfectly by his chaser. Herriman nearly had seven points the other way when the speedy McKell saw a floaty pass and had it in his hands (foreshadowing), and with the fullback in the line, there was nobody to catch him. The ball was just off his fingertips, however, and East retained with a scrum. Herriman was able to turn over and clear, and had some nice forward phases in the midfield, but did not take care of the ball. East jumped on the turnover and went right on attack, once again showing good patience and go forward. Matelau was eventually able to power over for his 3rd score, and the conversion made it 34-27 East. That would be the end of the scoring for the Leopards, while Herriman showed their fitness by running off 22 unanswered points.
Another quality restart from Syddall and good line speed drove East back to their goal line, where Bateman had to clear. The Herriman counterattack nearly paid off when Watson and wing Remington Wood had a numbers advantage, but Watson failed to see the streaking Wood in support and the ball went back through the phases, eventually reaching the far side of the field. After a near-score by Abercrombie, Fisi'ipeau saw that Watson and Wood again had the numbers advantage, and sent a beautiful skip pass out their way. This time, Watson deftly committed his defender and hit Wood in perfect support for a corner try to cut the deficit to two points. Perhaps learning a game-long lesson of giving momentum back following a score, Herriman finally took care of the receiving end of the restart as well. Parker took the ball high, sidestepped into a gap, and burst up the middle with impressive speed, going from 22 to 22 in an instant. East eventually forced a turnover, but were stymied out wide by a great open field tackle from Wood, and when East attempted another floaty skip pass, electric wing Kite Afeaki stepped in and snagged the ball and was off to the races for a 60-meter try the other way. Abercrombie sent the kick through the uprights and Herriman reclaimed the lead 39-34.
East had a few forays into Herriman territory, but were stymied by a defense who seemed to be getting its second wind, and Herriman was the sharper team (again, fitness paying off). Matelau nearly had his fourth try, but the diminutive McQueen was up to the task, stopping the big man and then forcing a penalty for not releasing. Syddall kicked to midfield for touch, and runs by McKell, Mickelsen, and Ta'ai put East on the back foot and a hands in the ruck infraction. Abercrombie immediately called for points from 30 meters out and it like a veteran to make it a two-score lead. Sensing the opportunity to put an opponent away, Herriman looked even fresher and faster and did not let up. Breaks from centers Matt Jenkins and Ta'ai drew the defense in, and the ball found McKell outside. He got close and then shot a ridiculous backhanded offload to a streaking Syddall, who burst through to touch down under the posts. Abercrombie converted to set the final at 49-34.
"Overall, we have a lot to improve on in terms of execution," said Herriman Coach Jeff Wilson. "We put ourselves in too many bad spots, and you cannot leave the door open that many times for a team as talented as East. We have to clean up the restarts and make our tackles more consistently. That said, our dominance in the lineout was a big factor, and I loved our mindset in the second half on putting a team away and finishing, and our fitness level showed up today which was huge with some key players out and the domino effect of what that does to the bench. This is a different team than the one that took the field 3 weeks ago, and these boys are working hard, so we are trending in the right direction, but still nowhere near peaking at this point. It is both scary and encouraging to consider how much better we can still be."
East has a quick turnaround against Brighton on Saturday, while Herriman concludes the regular season by locking up the #2 seed in the playoffs behind LCA. With a win over Brighton, East will go in as the #3 seed, which means it is very likely that we will see a rematch of this game one week from Saturday, and if this match was any indication, it promises to be anything but dull.
