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South Jordan » As the seconds ticked away on the scoreboard of Bingham's preseason game against Alta, Bingham kicker Braeden Loveless could hardly contain his excitement on the sidelines. He was bouncing up and down on his toes as he received multiple congratulatory pats on the back from his teammates. And nobody could wipe that smile off his face.
It was his 42-yard field goal with a little over a minute remaining that guaranteed Bingham's 38-34 win over rival Alta, breaking a three-game losing streak to the Hawks.
It was another epic battle between the two powerhouse programs. In the past, the game often has been decided by a few points, so Loveless had a feeling it would
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"All week I've been mentally preparing myself for that. I just told myself to kick it straight and use my form," Loveless said. "This feels great. The rivalry is so intense."
In the second quarter, it looked as if the Hawks were pulling away. Alta quarterback Jordan Brown completed 10 of 20 passes and threw for 237 yards in that quarter alone. He showed composure and executed flawlessly as he found main targets Zach Liston and Skyler Mayne. Mayne and Liston finished the first half with 90 and 108 receiving yards, respectively, and a big play by Austin Lee -- he returned an interception 44 yards for a touchdown -- put Alta up 28-14 at halftime.
Bingham made adjustments in the second half,
"We were fighting penalties and we left our defense on the field too long," Alta coach Les Hamilton said. "They took the momentum."
Momentum shifted when Ty Hannay found Chris Copier for a 17-yard touchdown pass to bring the Miners within a touchdown with 6:16 left in the third. It was that same play that put Bingham up 34-28.
In the fourth quarter, the Miners turned to running back Harvey Langi, who finished the game with 189 yards on 22 carries. He scored two touchdowns for Bingham.
In typical fashion, the Hawks managed to score in the last minute of the game on a 61-yard pass from Brown to Mayne. But it didn't matter as Loveless' field goal had put the game out of reach before the drive even started.
"The past two times we've played, we were up heading into the fourth quarter and they beat us," Bingham coach Dave Peck said. "Since January, that's been on our mind and we were not going to lose to this team in the fourth quarter again. It would have been easy to hang our heads and say this is not our night but not once did we do that."
Bingham breaks a three-game losing streak vs. Alta as Harvey Langi finishes with 189 rushing yards.
