Prep Football: Timpview 36, Lone Peak 33

Highland • Defense surprisingly helped decide a game in which the teams combined for 930 yards of offense.

That's how Timpview escaped with a 36-33 victory Friday night at Lone Peak.

The Thunderbirds held the defending Class 5A champion to six points after halftime and rode a career night by Braydon Galland to win on the road for the second consecutive week.

Galland caught four touchdown passes among his eight receptions for 200 yards.

"I wasn't expecting to play that big a role, but I'll take it," said Galland, who scored on passes of 53, 30, 80 and 5 yards from quarterback Jake Lloyd. "They were double-teaming Dax Raymond, and we took advantage."

The 80-yard touchdown was a turning point for the T-Birds (2-1), who won at Westlake last week. Timpview's Pita Taumoepenu blocked a field goal attempt with his team trailing 27-20 in the final minute of the second quarter.

Lloyd found Galland streaking up the middle of the field and hit him in stride for the score on the next playto enter halftime down 27-26.

"We get down when we are losing, so that really changed momentum going into halftime and had us feeling good," Galland said.

Lone Peak quarterback Baron Gajkowski amassed 286 yards of offense and threw for three touchdowns in the first half. It was a different story after the break. Running lanes he found in the first half were sealed, and throws began to sail high and wide of intended targets.

"We made some adjustments in the way we covered them," Timpview coach Cary Whittingham said about his defense in the second half. "[Gajkowski] loves to pull it down and run it. That was a problem for us in the first half."

Gajkowski finished with 309 yards on 27-of-46 passing. He added 106 yards on 20 rushing attempts. His 6-yard touchdown with 2.8 seconds left provided the final margin.

Lloyd threw for 294 yards but turned to the running game late to milk the clock and seal the victory. Gregson Aspinall had 114 yards on 10 carries and scored on a 7-yard run in the first half.

Timpview once again was its worst enemy in terms of penalties. The T-Birds were whistled 14 times for 130 yards a week after committing 22 infractions.

"Unfortunately, still, we're dealing with some penalties that hurt us," Whittingham said. "Some of those penalties kept us from first downs that we needed and from possibly putting more points on the board. We've got to clean that up."

Austin McCherney scored two touchdowns – a 25-yard reception and 19-yard run – in the first quarter for the Knights (1-2), who finished with 443 yards of offense. Talon Shumway (7 yards) and Dustin Watkins (8 yards) also caught touchdown passes.