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SALT LAKE CITY — Lone Peak remains undefeated after rolling over perennial powerhouse Bingham, winning 26-9 in the 5A semifinals Friday night.
Bingham scored first on a 24-yard field goal, as the Knights started out slow with back-to-back three-and-out series. But quarterback Talmage Gunther and receiver Jackson McChesney quickly picked up the pace and took control of the game for Lone Peak.
In the second quarter, Gunther, recognizing an empty backfield with no safety, called an audible at the line of scrimmage and found McChesney for a 73-yard touchdown pass for their first score of the game. Gunther followed it up with a 62-yard touchdown pass on the ensuing series in a similar play.
"We saw only three points on the board and said seven points is easy. We just put seven points on the board quick and then just back-to-back and kept on going," McChesney said. "(Talmage) didn't see anyone over the top, so he called an audible, so I just ran down the field as fast as I could to catch the ball."
"On the first touchdown pass I saw that they didn't have a safety so I knew that McChesney would give an outside move and I put it out there and let him go out there and make a touchdown pass," Gunther added.
Gunther would add a 1-yard rushing touchdown late in the second quarter to give the Knights a 20-3 lead going into the half. He would find Jonny Christensen for a 4-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter for the Knights' final score of the night.
Gunther ended the game throwing for 248 yards and three touchdowns on 11-of-19 passing. He added 107 yards and one touchdown on the ground as the team's leading rusher. McChesney was the team's leading receiver with 158 yards and two touchdowns on three catches.
"We knew we could win this game. We didn't come into this game thinking 'oh, these big, bad Bingham.' We came in feeling like if we played our best football then we could come out on top," Gunther said. "I think we've earned some respect. But none of this matter if we don't get the win next week."
Bingham entered Friday's matchup as the defending 5A champions, but lost starting quarterback Matt Degn early in the game to an injury. Backup quarterback Keaton Torre managed the offense well but struggled to move the ball against Lone Peak's defense. The loss is the first in-state loss for Bingham since the 2012 5A semifinal game when Bingham lost to Syracuse 21-16.
"That was just a great team effort; that's cliche, but it really was," Lone Peak coach Mike Mower said. "That defense of ours was stellar. My defensive coaches, man, what a job they did. The players made some big plays out there, the defense. The offense did some great things too; I don't want to take anything away from them."
The Knights will play the Herriman Mustangs next Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium in the 5A Championship game. The two teams met earlier in the season and Lone Peak came away with a 30-0 victory.
"I think the first time we played them we awakened a sleeping lion," Mower said. "That's going to be a tough ball game. No, it isn't going to be the same game, we know that."
"It's going to be tough," McChesney said. "It's hard to beat a team twice, but we're going to have to play our best football."
