Bengals keeping pace in Region 6 football race
Sep 30, 2019 10:57AM ● By Josh Mc Fadden
The Brighton football team won four of its first six games and started out 1-1 in region play.
By Josh McFadden | [email protected]
Moving from Region 7 to Region 6 this year brought some new opponents to Brighton’s schedule. The football team got off to a solid start in league play.
After going 3-1 in non-region action, the Bengals went 1-1 to begin its Region 6 portion of the schedule. Brighton fell to Olympus 33-20 on Sept. 13 but responded with a 56-0 blowout of struggling Cottonwood the following week.
The loss to Olympus was nothing to he ashamed of. The Titans are the defending Region 6 champions, having gone undefeated in the league and advancing to the Class 5A state semifinals a year ago. The Bengals gave Olympus all it could handle, trailing just 20-17 entering the final quarter. Brighton was down 20-14 at the half. Matthew Crillo scored touchdowns in the first and second quarters. His first TD came on a 16-yard run, while touchdown No. 2 came via the air on a 13-yard pass from Gabe Curtis.
In the second half, placekicker Owen Smith hit a pair of field goals. The second one came with three minutes left in the contest that brought the Bengals within seven points at 27-20. Unfortunately for Brighton, Olympus scored a late touchdown to seal its win. Curtis had 186 yards passing but also threw three interceptions.
Brighton picked up its first region win in easy fashion on Sept. 20 against Cottonwood. The game was over for all intents and purposes after the first 12 minutes when the Bengals got out to a 28-0 lead. Crillo scored two of those touchdowns and runs of 70 and 58 yards. In the second quarter, he added a 58-yard run into the end zone. Brighton also had two interception returns for touchdowns in the first half. Lander Barton took one 50 yards to the house six minutes into the game, and Jacobie Webster had a pick-six in the second quarter. Gabe Curtis tossed a pair of first-half touchdowns, and Brighton was cruising 49-0.
The Bengals essentially ran out the clock in the second half, scoring one second-half touchdown. It was Brighton’s second shutout of the season, with the first coming in week two against Layton, 24-0 on Aug. 23.
Brighton followed that up with a 49-27 win over Skyline on Sept. 27.
The Bengals' next game will be at Murray on Oct. 4 and at Hillcrest Oct. 10. The final regular season contest is at home against Highland on Oct. 16.
