And though the Hawks were tripping over themselves with mistakes and special teams errors, the knowledge that Alta's defense was spectacular gave the coaching staff a bit of hope.

That hope turned to reality in the second half of Friday night's showdown between the top two teams in Class 5A. Once Alta stopped giving away points, and started to run its offense, Bingham struggled to keep up. That and Ammon Olsen's big night allowed the Hawks to catch up and pull away to a 27-19 win that was punctuated by one of the more dominating defensive performances of this short season.

With the win, the Hawks, after losing so many starters from last year's state title team, cement themselves as a championship contender.

The Miners, who many picked to go all the way this season, are 0-2 on the heels of a shocking loss to Skyline in last week's opener.

"The game ball really goes to the defense," Hawks coach Les Hamilton said. "They were great tonight. They were special. To do what this defense did tonight in this kind of rivalry was really special."

Never was that more evident than on Bingham's final drive, when the Miners had an opportunity to drive for a potential game-tying score. On the second play, after an opening incompletion, Alta linebacker A.I. Ho-Ching came off the edge untouched and blindsided Bingham quarterback Jake Soffe, forcing the senior to fumble and securing the win.

It was Ho-Ching's third sack of the second half, and his play was a major reason the Miners' offense sputtered for an entire game.

"I've always thought A.I. was one of the better junior linebackers in the state," Hamilton said. "He proved it tonight."

Special teams and turnovers led to all of Bingham's scores. The only points the offense scored was a touchdown in the first quarter, when the Miners used a Colton Yack punt return to Alta's 3-yard line as their big play.

It was Alta's defense that kept the Hawks in the game. It was the offense that finally woke up and snatched away the victory.

Olsen was spectacular, going 14-for-23 for 284 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those scores went to Parker Webster.

The touchdown that put the Hawks ahead came with eight minutes remaining, when Webster beat two Bingham defenders on a corner route and caught a 29-yard touchdown pass. The score came one play after Webster let a potential TD pass slide through his fingertips.

The clincher was a 35-yard TD pass from Olsen to Zack Liston that provided the final score.

"We just thought that we needed to hang in there because we knew they were going to come out and be really physical with us," Webster said. "We had to hang in there and ride it out. Once we stopped making mistakes, we were fine."

tjones@sltrib.com

* Picked by many to win the Class 5A state title, Bingham starts the season 0-2.

* Alta's Ammon Olsen, throws for 284 yards and three TDs in his second career start.