Johnnie Football: Lang scores 5 TDs as East runs by Springville in 4A semifinal

SALT LAKE CITY — Technically, Thursday morning's Class 4A state semifinal between East and Springville was a neutral-site game at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

But Johnnie Lang helped the Leopards feel right at home.

Lang accounted for five touchdowns, four rushing and one passing, to propel East to its third state final appearance since 2010 with a 42-14 win over the Red Devils. Next week's championship game will be the furthest Lang has ever advanced in a state tournament.

"I have to enjoy every moment of this. I've never been this far before in a football tournament," said Lang, who moved to Utah from Florida over the summer. "This was the goal.

"We just had to come in and do what we had to do as a team, and we got the job done."

Lang finished with a game-high 280 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Of his 19 touches, six went for a first down to go along with his four scores. He also completed 3 of 5 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown for the ground-heavy Leopards (10-3).

"Johnnie Lang is an incredible human being, first and foremost," East coach Brandon Matich said. "He's a good football player, but he's a heck of a person, and I'm so proud of where he is right now."

Lang saw most of his touches in the second half, moving over from quarterback to running back after starter Jaylen Warren went down with an ankle injury. Matich said Warren, who finished with 102 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries in just under one half of play, would be ready to go for next week's state final and could've returned had the Leopards needed him down the stretch.

But Lang took over the ground game himself. After Warren scored the only points of the first quarter on a 35-yard TD run with 3:48 left in the opening period, Lang tacked on a 69-yard TD burst with 7:39 to go before halftime to put East up 14-0 at the break.

But he didn't take his foot off the brake. Lang ran for 160 yards and three touchdowns in the second half, and also found Cole Peterson for an 81-yard touchdown pass to start the fourth quarter with a 35-6 advantage.

"Just because we were up, we couldn't just think the game was given to us," said Lang, who scored on runs of 69, 57, 18 and 3 yards. "We had to come out and punish them, and that's what we came out and did.

"I just have to give credit to my O-line. Those guys want it more than anybody right now, and I feed off that. That's how we play the game."

Lang also could've given credit to his defense, who held the Red Devils (10-1) to 298 yards of total offense, including just 155 yards on the ground. Springville's Payton Kelepolo had 31 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, including a 1-yard TD plunge with 5:40 left in the third quarter to bring the Red Devils within 21-6.

But they would get no closer. The Leopards held their Utah County opponents to 2-of-5 in the red zone, including holding Springville scoreless despite two trips inside the 10 in the first half.

"Our defense was bending a little bit, but never breaking," Matich said. "We've got to do a better job of not letting those big plays through next week. But Coach Bauer and his staff have done a great job on the defensive side of the ball."

The Leopards punted only once and scored touchdowns on six of their nine possessions. They punted on the opening drive of the game, then didn't give up the ball without a score until a fake field goal fell flat with no time on the clock at halftime.

Springville forced the only lost fumble of the game when Andrew Slack recovered a loose ball inside the 10 in the final quarter to set up Kelepolo's second short touchdown.

Devyn Tate had 89 yards on nine carries to lead Springville, and Jantse Thorpe completed 11-of-26 passes for 143 yards for the Red Devils.

"We knew we had a challenge in front of us, first psychological. (Springville) was undefeated for a reason, and they had the best defense in 4A, I believe," Matich said. "We posed that challenge to our kids all week, and they rose to the occasion."

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