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South Jordan • The festivities for senior night were elaborate before top-ranked Bingham's showdown against Jordan with the Region 3 title at stake on Thursday. The final home game for players is emotional, but, for the Miners, it appeared to cast a fog over their performance.
Call is the senior night blues. The product Bingham put on the field wasn't the typical machine-like dominance it's known for. However, eventually the hangover from the chocolates, flowers and balloons wore off, and the Miners found their rhythm in a 58-40 shootout win over the No. 7 Beetdiggers.
"A lot of lessons to be learned out of that game for us, but our kids hung tight and played well in a lot of ways," said Bingham coach John Lambourne. "It will be lessons we find out on film on why it ended up being a track meet, but our guys needed to have that test. We'll learn from it."
The win clinched at least a share of the Region 3 title for the fourth straight year, and marked the 20th straight win for the Miners in league play. It was also the seventh straight win against Jordan, and 11th of 12 in the series, with Jordan's only win coming in 2007.
Bingham (9-0, 5-0) finished with 587 yards of total offense on 65 plays, with seven touchdowns, a 33-yard field goal by Kade Lever and a 45-yard punt return by Daniel Loua. Lambourne specifically praised special teams coordinator Josh Johnson and said Loua "is as good of player as there is in this state when you see all the different things we have him doing."
Jordan (6-2, 4-1) ran 80 plays for 557 yards and six touchdowns, with quarterback Crew Wakley accounting for all six scores — three rushing and three passing.
Wakley's first touchdown pass, a 42-yard strike to Isaiah Jackson, put the Beets up 7-3. He added a 14-yard rushing score shortly thereafter for a 14-10 advantage.
Bingham appeared to wake up, responding with a scoring drive featuring more urgency and culminating with a 5-yard touchdown by Tate Peterson.
The two teams exchanged blows, from that point forward, ending the first half with Bingham leading 31-28.
The Miners set the tone on the first possession in the third quarter, methodically marching down the field for a 38-28 lead on a Loua 3-yard run. Generally conservative, Bingham converted a fourth-and-6 from Jordan's 11-yard line, which Lambourne said was a mindset that they "had to pretty much score every time" because of how effective the Diggers' offense had been.
"That was critical," Lambourne said of the time-absorbing drive to open the third quarter.
Jordan cut the deficit to 38-34 with a score of its own, but Bingham made two straight stands on defense to balloon its lead to 58-34 with 1:30 remaining in regulation.
The Miners can clinch the outright region title with a win at Brighton (1-6, 1-3) on Wednesday. And this time they'll look to avoid the short-week blues.
Twitter: @trevorphibbs —
Storylines
R Bingham clinched at least a share of the Region 3 title for the fourth straight year, and marked the 20th straight win for the Miners in league play.
• It was the seventh straight win against Jordan, and 11th of 12 in the series, with Jordan's only win coming in 2007.
• Collectively, the teams accounted for 1,144 yards of total offense.