Mountain Crest rallies at Woods Cross, but falls short 26-23

<strong>WOODS CROSS—</strong> It was too little, too late for the Mountain Crest football team.

After falling behind Woods Cross 20-0 in the first quarter, the Mustangs rally came up short and the Wildcats held on for a 26-23 win Friday.

“Too many mistakes,” MC head coach Mark Wootton said. “We were quite a ways down, but managed to come back, but threw that pick. We have to shut the opponent down. We can’t let them out of bad situations.”

The Mustangs defense struggled to contain a ferocious Wildcat run game, and three quick scoring drives put Mountain Crest in a big hole before eight minutes had passed.

Skyler Farnes found Filipo Mokofisi on a 44-yard pass to put Woods Cross up early, and the Wildcats were just warming up. Farnes added a 1-yard touchdown run a couple minutes later to double the lead, and Sean Barton broke away for a 77-yard touchdown run to make it 20-0 after the Mustangs blocked the point after attempt.

However, the Mustangs weren’t about to fold.

A pair of touchdown passes by quarterback Jameson Webb cut the deficit to six before the intermission, as Webb found Alex Huerta on a 14-yard strike and Josh Blad on a 45-yard bomb several minutes later.

“(We) have to eliminate the picks, but (Jameson)’s getting better each week,” Wootton said. “We just have to be able to protect the ball. We’ll work on that. We’ll just get better so when we get to region we’ll be ready to go.”

The momentum continued for Webb and the offense to start the second half, and a 27-yard field goal made it a 20-17 heading into the fourth quarter. The Mustangs’ defense held the Wildcats on consecutive possessions to give the offense a chance to take the lead, and Webb marched the offense into opposing territory with a little more than two minutes remaining.

But the rally came up short as Webb set up a screen play that the Wildcat defense read perfectly, and Junior Vailolo intercepted Webb’s pass and returned it 75 yards to give Woods Cross a 26-17 lead with time running out.

A quick drive down the field cut it back to three on a 1-yard run, but the Mustangs were unable to recover the onside kick. With only one timeout remaining, Mountain Crest was unable to stop the Woods Cross running game as the Wildcats ran out the clock to hold on for the win.

“We need discipline at practice,” Wootton said. “We need a better understanding, a better understanding of the game. We have 12 or 13 turnovers already this year in three games. You’re not going to win many games doing that.”

Mountain Crest fell to 1-2 on the season with the loss, and has just one game left before the region competition begins Sept 14. The Mustangs will travel to Weber High Sept. 7, with that game scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

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