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Once the celebratory huddle turned into a full frenzy, Devin Kaufusi screamed and held up a piece of paper. The lengthy defensive end pointed toward his friends in the stands at Rice-Eccles Stadium and then pointed back to the piece of paper. Turns out, the Timpview High student section went out on a limb and printed their own version of the news.
The paper read, "Timpview beats Roy! 3-PEAT!"
The Thunderbirds ensured the efforts of extensive page design wouldn't be all for naught in Friday's 28-7 Class 4A state championship victory over the Royals, the program's third straight. They also capped what they sought: Perfection. Timpview, behind a dominating second-half performance, vaulted itself into Utah high school football lore by finishing its 2014 campaign 14-0.
"The latest one is always the best," said T-birds coach Cary Whittingham, who became the first high school coach in state history to win a state title in his first three years. "This is the latest one, so it's the best."
The evening wasn't easy. The previously-unbeaten Royals outplayed the T-birds in the first half, taking a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter on a 14-yard touchdown pass by Tyler Skidmore to running back Baby Tee Eteuati. Timpview had to adjust to Roy's aggressiveness. The Royals sacked Timpview quarterback Britain Covey three times in the first half and held him to net-14 yards rushing on 11 carries.
At halftime, the T-birds had 65 yards of total offense.
"The motto at Timpview is, 'Ttrust yourself, trust your team and trust your coaches,'" Covey said. "We realized that when we work together, we're unbeatable."
Pretty much.
Covey and the T-bird offense pulled even on the first offensive possession of the second half when he found Jordy Espinoza for a 12-yard touchdown to knot the game 7-7. Less than two minutes later, defensive back Will Watanabe — who also had two interceptions — returned a punt 70 yards to put Timpview up 14-7.
"It shows how much one person's impact can change the mindset and drive of every other person on the team," Covey said of Watanabe's punt return.
Back in front and seeing the end to their perfect season, the Timpview defense unleashed all it had. It held a potent Roy offense to 102 yards of total offense in the second half and forced two turnovers. Covey again put Timpview up with his 9-yard touchdown pass to Samson Nacua midway through the fourth quarter and Tristan Bradley rumbled in from 3-yards out with just over six minutes remaining to up the lead to 28-7.
Covey concluded his high school career undefeated as a starting quarterback, finishing with 140 rushing yards on 21 carries and 97 yards passing on 11 of 12 attempts, including two touchdowns. Once they'd gone through the post-game line with Roy, Covey, Kaufusi and Gabe Reid huddled together at midfield and congratulated one another.
Not too far away, Watanabe tried to piece together the words describing his memorable title-game performance. He's a junior, so you can't blame him if he's already looking forward to 2015 and the possibility of holding up four fingers in euphoria.
"We're ready for next year," he said.
Twitter: @CKTribune —
Timpview 28, Roy 7
O The Thunderbirds cap a perfect 14-0 season and earn their third straight state title with a win over the Royals.
• Senior QB Britain Covey finishes with 140 yards rushing on 21 carries, as well as two touchdowns through the air.
• Junior free safety Will Watanabe has a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown and two interceptions.