Last year, Mountain Crest took Timpview to the brink of semifinal elimination. The Thunderbirds admit that quarterback Alex Kuresa had caught them by surprise.

But the three-time defending state champions had taken notes.

This time around, in Thursday's Class 4A semifinal at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Timpview coach Louis Wong made some defensive adjustments in the middle with one goal in mind: slow Kuresa.

"We made three changes this week to help our defense," said Timpview coach Louis Wong. "We put on a lot of pressure."

Still, Kuresa still managed another solid outing -- completing 27 of 42 passes for 375 yards and three touchdowns. But it was Timpview linebacker Ofa Latu's two second-half interceptions, including one in the red zone, that told the story in the Mustangs' 38-21 semifinal loss to Timpview.

"From last year, we knew it was hard to keep him inside," said Latu, who also finished with 11 tackles. "We were able to make some good changes. We wanted to come out and step up our coverage."

Mission accomplished.

But just as the Thunderbirds had figured out a way to slow Kuresa's progress, they ran into another obstacle.

Late in the second half, defensive tackle Tyson Tiatia went down midfield with a suspected torn ACL. After walking off the field in crutches, Wong again was forced to scramble up the defensive line.

And that's when he let Latu loose.

"We were patient for a while with Ofa," said Wong. "Then we let him go and he got up his [Kuresa's] face a bit."

That pressure tripped up Kuresa's traditionally accurate pass game. The rest of Timpview's defensive line sacked Kuresa five times to deepen the hole that Latu had dug for the Mustangs.