‘It just hurts.’ Rigby forces late fumble to preserve victory over Rocky Mountain
The Rocky Mountain football team broke its final huddle of the 2022 season with one word: family.
Someday, that feeling of family will be what the Grizzlies remember most.
But right now, it stings.
Rigby scored a touchdown with 3:40 remaining in the fourth quarter and forced a fumble on the Grizzlies’ final drive to preserve a 34-27 victory in the 5A state semifinals Friday night at Rocky Mountain High.
Rigby (10-2) will face Meridian (11-0) — a 34-10 winner over Mountain View — for the 5A state championship next week at Albertsons Stadium. Game details will be announced in the coming days.
“I’ll remember the brotherhood, really,” Rocky Mountain (10-2) senior Art Williams said. “Ever since freshman year, we knew we had a special team. We put in the work, and I felt like we had something not a lot of other teams have, so it just hurts that it’s over.”
With the score 27-27, the Trojans began a drive on their own 39-yard line with 4:36 to play. They needed just four plays to score, the TD coming on a 6-yard pass from junior quarterback Luke Flowers to senior wide receiver Brady Packer. Flowers completed 24-of-32 passes for 326 yards and one touchdown, and ran for 18 yards and two more scores.
The Grizzlies then started what they hoped would be the game-winning drive at their own 30-yard line, but quickly found themselves facing fourth-and-6 from their own 34. Senior quarterback Tegan Sweaney kept the drive alive with a 13-yard dart to junior receiver Jaryn Ikebe.
Two plays later, senior Luke Luchini hauled in a 39-yard pass to put the Grizzlies on the Rigby 14. Threatening to score from 9 yards out, the unthinkable happened for the Grizzlies, who watched in disbelief as the Trojans celebrated a fumble recovery.
“It comes down to turnovers, and we said it was going to come down to turnovers,” Rocky Mountain coach Chris Culig said. “We had opportunities to get them, and then obviously we fumbled there at the end. Whether he was down or not doesn’t matter. The ball was on the ground.
“We played super hard. We battled and worked hard all year. It was a good football team, and you’ve gotta make less mistakes than them when it’s a big game like this.”
Rocky Mountain went into halftime with a 14-13 lead and seized momentum at the start of the second half when Tayson Hanson recovered the Grizzlies’ onside kick at the Rigby 49-yard line. Williams finished off the drive with a 6-yard TD run to put Rocky up 20-13 with 11:09 on the clock in the third quarter. Williams, an Idaho commit who also starts at linebacker, led the Grizzlies with 130 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.
Rigby answered right back on a 1-yard keeper from Flowers to knot the score at 20-all, but it didn’t last long.
The Grizzlies drove 51 yards in seven plays, culminating with a 7-yard pass from Sweaney to Luchini for a 27-20 advantage with 5:40 to go.
But the defending state champions wouldn’t be denied a chance at a repeat, scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns for the road victory.
“That’s really all you can ask for. I love playing in close games, it brings out the best in players,” Williams said. “We just fell short tonight, I guess.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2022 at 11:55 PM.
