In the midsummer heat of August, the Brighton football team outlined its goals for the season.  Those goals included  Regain the Region 6 championship and 2. Earn the right to play in the postseason “on the turf” at Rice Eccles Stadium by being a final-four team.

It was a wet, cold October night to close the regular season in 2023 when Brighton lost the region championship on the West Panthers field. It would have been Brighton’s fourth region championship in a row. The odds of regaining the championship were long given that in August, when the goal was set, Brighton was predicted to take fourth in region behind West, Olympus and East.  

Undaunted, the Bengals embarked upon a near perfect season. With 22 seniors on the roster, the team outscored opponents 312 to 82 through the regular season with four shutouts. The only chink in the armor came in a September shutout on Olympus’ home field when the Titans held Brighton sophomore quarterback Rice Palepoi scoreless and Brighton suffered a 13-0 loss. More adversity followed as Palepoi had a season-ending injury and then two games later second-string senior quarterback Alex Degroot is likewise counted out for the season just before the final game of the season  the rematch between West and Brighton for the Region 6 championship.

This year, the championship game against undefeated West would be fought on a warm October night in the comfort of Brighton’s Freestone Field. Brighton tapped JV QB sophomore Preston Ferran to step up for the offense. With an injury-riddled offense, head coach Casey Sutera had to put the region championship on the defense. “We knew our defense was going to hold strong, it’s kind of been the strength of our team and we just had to kind of hang tight on that and just trust that they were going to keep getting stops,” Sutera said. 

That defensive strategy held the reigning region champion offense scoreless. West’s defense scored the only West points on a first quarter pick-six interception. That was followed by what would become the game saving blocked extra point by Beau LaFleur who played offense, defense and special teams. Brighton moved RB Mason Haertel to the QB position and for the next 32 offense plays, Brighton shunned the pass in favor of Haertel’s strength - running.  

“I just did the best I can do. I just tried to go out there and be confident, don’t scare anyone, put the team on my shoulders and keep running the rock,” Haertel said. He broke away late in the second quarter for a 71-yard touchdown sprint. Senior Thomas Sorenson kicked the extra point which was the last score of the game - Brighton hit its region championship goal with a defensive 7-6 win.

The “road to Rice Eccles” was equally fraught with obstacles, adversity and long odds. The Bengals got more time to integrate their third-string JV quarterback in the first rounds of the 5A state playoffs only to be matched up with nemesis Olympus in the quarterfinals - the final step before the promise of playing in Rice Eccles Stadium. The defense strategy that won the West championship game turned out to be ill fated. Haertel was back at QB with 40 scoreless runs.  The Titans held a 14-0 lead with a mere eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. It appeared that the sole loss of the 10-1 season wouldn’t be avenged. The Brighton coaching staff made the critical decision to abandon the run game, insert third-string QB Ferran and try an air attack. “We were just trying to beat them up physically the whole game, and then when they got up 14, we were like screw it, let’s go score, so we just came out throwing,” Ferran said.

The motivated Bengals scored 17 unanswered points in the final eight minutes to win the game 17-14.  Ferran came alive throwing to Slade Taylor for 46 yards of pass yardage and Sam Storr for 25 pass gains before handing it off to LaFleur for a rushing touchdown for the first Brighton score with 6:27 left in the game. LaFleur moved to defense and helped hold Olympus to a critical three-and-out and out series. Ferran was then given the opportunity to complete the unlikely comeback with a seven-point deficit and four minutes. This time his target was senior wide receiver Cash Gay who fielded three catches for 51 yards. Haertel punched in his 18th touchdown this season to seal the comeback. “That’s a great job by a sophomore quarterback that we put in a position to have to go win the game and do it when they knew we were going to have to throw. Like, that’s a big time effort by him,” Sutera said.

The crowd stunned, the game seemed destined for an overtime conclusion. Yet the football changed possession five more times in the last 3:32 minutes. The climax of the highlight-rich game came with 6.2 seconds left in the game and the Bengals setting up for a 36-yard field goal by Sorenson. He had missed a 32-yard attempt in the first quarter. With the trip to the semifinals at Rice Eccles on the line, Sorenson kicked a line drive that hit the upright and fell scoreless.  However, Olympus was called for an offsides penalty which gave Sorenson another shot - this time from the 31-yard line.  “I’m just thinking I got it, I’ve got it now, and so I just go back up there, keep my head down, follow through. I didn’t even see if it went in, just perfectly through and turnover,” Sorenson said.

“Our team this whole year, just resilient, toughness, adversity, like every single time they answer, and I’m just really proud of them. Can’t believe it man. Crazy. Then our Thomas Sorenson drills a kick. He’s been struggling. Drills the kick to win the game. Surreal,” Sutera said.

On Nov. 15, for the first time in 10 years, Brighton was back on the turf of Rice Eccles Stadium to compete as a 5A final-four team. Brighton fell to Bountiful but not before senior standout Haertel scored his 19th season touchdown and solidified his place as 5A football’s most prolific scorer for 2024. And the team notched 11 wins - the most team wins since the 2004 team 20 years ago.