Utah school pounds Wildcats

Whenever humble pie is served on the football field at Las Vegas High School, the host Wildcats are usually the ones dishing it out.
 
But that certainly wasn’t the case on Friday night, when visiting Pine View (Utah) dealt five-time defending Sunrise Region champion Las Vegas a big dose of humility in a 41-13 rout.

“We’re extremely embarrassed at the outcome. We expected it to be a lot closer,” Las Vegas coach Chris Faircloth said. “We tried to find out tonight how good we were and obviously we found out we’re not a very good football team.”

Quarterback Justin Ence rushed for 103 yards and four touchdowns and also threw for 102 yards and a score to lead the Panthers (3-1), who finished second in the state of Utah last season, when they also recorded a similar road romp over the Wildcats.

“We were under the belief we were probably better than we were last year,” Faircloth said. “But we’ve got a long ways to go if we’re going to make an impact this season.”

Las Vegas (2-1), which suffered its first loss of the year, took a short-lived 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter when Reggie Bullock returned a punt 56 yards for a touchdown.

But Tanner Wood ran the ensuing kickoff back 90 yards for a TD to even the score 7-7 and Pine View didn’t trail again.

The Panthers also scored on their next two possessions to take a 21-7 halftime lead and then scored on their first two possessions of the second half to extend their margin to 35-7.

Facing fourth-and-one at the Las Vegas’ 3 in the second quarter, Ence rumbled into the end zone to cap a 15-play, 67-yard drive that ate up over eight minutes.

“We were able to control the ball and keep them off the field,” Panthers coach Ray Hosner said.

After the Wildcats went three-and-out on their next possession, the Panthers took advantage of three penalties on Las Vegas — including a roughing-the-passer call on fourth-and-11 — to keep their drive alive and Ence took it in from a yard out to make it 21-7.

Kevin Cormier returned the ensuing kick 65 yards to give the Wildcats great field position, but a wide-open Marquan Major dropped a pass in the end zone on fourth down.

Las Vegas got the ball back on the very next play, when Bullock intercepted Ence, but it couldn’t capitalize as Trevor Lowe missed a field-goal try.

“They got the momentum and we never could get it back,” Faircloth said. “We had plenty of opportunities to be in this game and possibly win it, but we never cashed in when we needed to.”

Bullock led Las Vegas with 70 yards rushing on nine carries and Villiami Hafoka paced the Panthers with 121 yards on 15 carries.