Prep football: Toluta'u, East steam roll Jordan

Sandy • The more points East put on the scoreboard Friday night, the fewer words those in attendance had to describe the thorough domination.

Ula Toluta'u, Preston Curtis and the rest of the Leopards put the East in Beast, pummeling the host Beetdiggers 59-36.

Toluta'u rushed for 322 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries and Curtis added 174 yards and two scores on just seven carries as East (3-0) amassed 784 yards of total offense, including 637 on the ground.

"We're set up for that to happen if [quarterback] Isaac [Valles] makes the right reads," Curtis said about the success on the ground. "When we make the right plays and we make the blocks, things work out well for us."

The Leopards, who were bigger, faster and stronger on both sides of the line of scrimmage, scored almost at will in a first half that took more than 90 minutes to play and saw 82 points scored. Toluta'u ran for scores of 92, 2 and 36 yards, and Curtis scored on runs of 75 and 63 yards as the Leopards shocked the scoreboard with 52 points before halftime.

In one stretch of the second quarter, East scored three touchdowns on four offensive plays in a span of 1 minute, 51 seconds. That's offensive production East basketball coach Skip Lowe could envy as he watched from the sidelines.

"We knew they were going to do some things defensively that we could expose," East coach Brandon Matich said. "We thought we could run option on them and change up our blocking, and we had success. It worked to our advantage."

Jordan quarterback Austin Kafentzis rushed for 207 yards and three touchdowns, but he had a miserable night throwing the ball. The Beetdiggers (1-2) tried to play catch-up. He completed just 3 of his first 14 passes and had three intercepted.

Jordan led 20-17 after one quarter after Tayler Johnson returned a kickoff 95 yards for a score. But the 'Digger faithful had little to celebrate the rest of the night as Jordan lost for the second consecutive week and allowed the most points since Bingham scored 62 against it in 2009.

Curtis said the Leopards used the much-anticipated matchup to make a statement about which is the team to beat this season.

"They are defending 5A state champions and they ran through everybody in the state last year," the senior said. "It's a huge statement game for us. We've got to cut down on the points given up, but our offense played amazing today."