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Highland • The Lone Peak football team fell behind fast-strike Jordan early in the game but big defensive plays turned the tide in the second quarter and the Knights never looked back on the way to a 59-37 victory Friday night.

The win sends Lone Peak (11-1) to the 5A semifinals Thursday at 11 a.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium to take on familiar foe American Fork (9-4), which defeated Syracuse 31-13 in the other quarterfinal to advance.

In one of the most wild opening sequences of a prep football game, the teams combined for 21 points in the first 41 seconds.

The Beetdiggers started with the ball on the 20 after a touchback. On the first play from scrimmage, Jordan quarterback Crew Wakley connected with wide receiver Isiah Jackson for an 80-yard touchdown.

On the ensuing kickoff, Kobe Freeman returned the ball 81 yards for a matching score to tie things up at 7.

Again starting on the 20, it was Wakley to speedster Jackson once more for a second 80-yard passing touchdown and a 14-7 advantage at the 11:19 mark of the first quarter.

The Beetdiggers later went up 21-7, but the Knights responded with 31 unanswered points to take a 38-21 lead at the break and followed up with another touchdown on the first possession of the second half.

Jordan wasn't quite done yet.

The Beetdiggers replied with a spurt of their own to score twice and convert two 2-point plays to narrow the advantage to a single score at 45-37 with 4:53 left in the third quarter.

It was all Lone Peak after that. The Knights added 14 points to the lead and shut down Jordan's efforts throughout the fourth period to secure the victory.

"That's not how we wanted to start the game, but the kids didn't panic," said Lone Peak coach Mike Mower. "Our defensive coaches had a good game plan and we were fine once we started to execute it.

"You can see why you can never count Jordan out," Mower added. "Both quarterbacks are really good and have a lot of weapons to work with. It was just a fantastic high school game. What a treat for the fans."

Twitter: @BeatonWrite —

Storylines

R The Knight defense holds Jordan scoreless on three fourth-down attempts inside the red zone in the second half.

• After missing the season with a torn ACL, Lone Peak defensive back Seth Corry returns to action and comes up with a pair of interceptions and a number of key tackles in the win. Ammon Hannemann also had a pick for the Knights.

• Knight quarterback Dakota Hansen runs for two scores and throws for four more touchdowns, two each to Beau Peterson and Jackson McChesney, who also had a rushing touchdown.