This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Herriman's football team took the Rice-Eccles Stadium field with a flag bearing the student body's mantra of "It's Our Time."
A few hours later, the theme came to life under the most unlikely circumstances. Nothing about this moment of the Class 5A state championship suggested it truly was Herriman's time. Oh, no. Not with the Mustangs facing fourth down near midfield, needing a touchdown to overtake unbeaten Lone Peak — the team that shut them out in the regular-season finale and rallied to overtake them in Friday's fourth quarter.
Here was Herriman, a run-oriented team that had recorded exactly one first down in the second half, out of timeouts and having to throw the football. Skipping to the end of the story, Kaden Strasters' 1-yard touchdown run with 22 seconds left gave Herriman a 17-14 victory and left the Mustangs' sophomore quarterback, Hayden Reynolds, searching for an explanation.
During the postgame frenzy on the field, Reynolds said, "I'm out of my element right now."
He thrived when it mattered, after having completed three passes for 8 yards until the last two minutes, when the Mustangs took over the ball at their 43-yard line. His remarkable display of poise actually came after he panicked on the original fourth-and-5 play, throwing the ball after crossing the line of scrimmage. Because the Knights were flagged for defensive holding, Herriman replayed the down.
Asked what he was thinking then, Reynolds said, "Must happen for a reason. We're getting a second chance. Not every day do you get a second chance."
You do when it's your time.
As the next sequence unfolded, almost duplicating the previous play, Reynolds scrambled until he found Noah Vaea along the sideline and flipped the ball to him. Noah Vaea. His name sounds like "no avail," but his clutch play in a desperate situation pretty much won Herriman a state championship.
Vaea weaved his way for 41 yards to the Lone Peak 11. On third-and-12, Reynolds tossed a pass over the middle to David Fotu, who took it to the 1. Strasters scored from there, and the Mustangs could celebrate the 6-year-old school's first title.
"I just hope we put a smile on everybody's face," Strasters said.
As the home of Bingham's dynasty, the southwest Salt Lake Valley remains the epicenter of 5A football with six titles in 10 years. Herriman's program deserves tremendous credit for creating its own identity, having taken students from Riverton and Bingham when the school opened in 2010.
Lone Peak was seeking another trophy after the Chase Hansen-driven run of 2011. Knights coach Mike Mower was trying to add his family's legacy after his father, the late Don Mower, won two titles as American Fork's coach in the 1960s.
Yet after beating Herriman 30-0 in the regular-season finale behind Talmage Gunther's 331 passing yards, Lone Peak struggled in Friday's first half with 87 total yards and trailed 10-0.
Gunther and his receivers delivered two touchdowns in the second half. But the Mustangs responded, in a case of "kids believing and wanting to do something," coach Dustin Pearce said.
Well, they did it. Players walked to the bus carrying three large rocks in the school colors of maroon, blue and gold. During the summer, a trainer who worked with the team introduced the rocks as symbols that the world is the Mustangs' for the taking. They also took home a gold trophy, which they earned just in time.
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