With the football season coming to an end, let’s recap this year’s season. The Bruins ended the year 6-4. Full of great plays and nail biting last second touchdowns.
Mountain View started off the season with a home game against the Orem high school Tigers. The Bruins were overwhelmed by the Orem Tigers. They lost the game 51-14, starting their football season 0-1.
Their next game was against the Timpanogos High school. The cross round rivals went head to head at Timpanogos. The Bruins team soundly defeated the T-wolves 53-13, earning their first win of the season. They were 1-1.
The next game was supposed to be against Taylorsville High School. However, the Taylorville Warriors had to cancel due to Covid-19. The coaches worked hard to find a team to play and they did, so the Dixie Flyers were coming to Bruin territory. In an epic battle, the game came down to the very last play. The final drive would decide the fate of the Bruins. With some quick passes from quarterback Kaden Kunz and a roughing the passer ( It’s basically a cheap shot on the quarterback), the Bruins were set up on the 5-yard line. Drenched in sweat, the Bruins last hope came on the shoulders of running-back/linebacker Liam Hone. Liam Hone took the handoff and scored the last second touchdown, tying the game. The extra point was made by Ivan Cueva. The Bruins would win the game and storm the field after the win. The Bruins would now move on to region. The Bruins were now 2-1.
The Ogden Tigers were 3-0. They had the leading rusher in the state at the moment, but that wouldn’t stop the Bruins. The game started a little rocky with a couple of fumbles, but the Bruins would recover and go on to defeat the Tigers 31-21. Quarterback Jackson McCarty would come in at the 4th quarter and show some serious quarterback potential. The Bruins moved on to 3-1.
Just when things started to look good for the Bruins, disaster struck. Quarterback Kaden Kunz was unavailable for two weeks. Leading the charge was sophomore quarterback Jackson McCarty. Jackson’s big arm led the Bruins to a 49-0 shutout against the Uintah. The team rallied around the young QB and Jackson threw for 4 touchdowns in his first career start. The Bruins swept the Uintah Utes. The Bruins moved on to 4-1.
The next game was the Homecoming against Ben Lomond. The Bruins scored 35 points in the first quarter. Kaden Kunz was finally available. Jackson had started the first quarter and Kaden would play the rest. Again Jackson went off, throwing for 4 touchdowns and 375 yards. Kaden threw another touchdown. The Bruins would soundly defeat Ben Lomond 49-10, celebrating Homecoming and moving on to 5-1.
The Bruins would then travel to Park City to face off against the Miners. The Bruins were overwhelmed by the Miners and fell to 5-2. Kaden Kunz had made the change to running Back, making Jackson the starting QB for the rest of the season. The final score was 60-30. It was a sad loss for the Bruins. They knew they would see Park City again later down in the Playoffs.
Hurdles continued to pile up against the Bruins. The week of the game against Stansbury- the very night before the game- covid-19 snuck in and infected some of the Bruins, forcing the team to cancel its game against the Stansbury Stallions. Their record wasn’t affected by this pandemic at all.
The team would also have to cancel against the Cedar Valley. If you want to read more about what the team did during this time, go to the article named “MVHS Football Team Shutdown.”
The Bruins last game would be against Tooele, but Covid struck once again, making Tooele have to cancel. Luckily, the Bruins ended up playing Woods Cross High School for their season finale on October 16th.
Originally, the Bruins senior night was going to be against Cedar Valley on October 8th, but the Bruins ended up playing their senior night against the Woods Cross Wildcats. The Bruins sadly lost to Woods Cross 20-10. Their record for the season was 5-3.
The Bruins were played as the 11th seed in the state playoffs. They would have to play the 22nd team, Uintah, at home on October 23rd. However the returning visitor, Covid, got to the Utes and forced them to forfeit. This would mean the Bruins got a bye week.
Finally, it was time for the second round of the playoffs. A rematch: Bruins at Stansbury. The Bruins had to cancel their regular season game against them and the Bruins were hungry for a victory.The Bruins fought long and hard against the Stallions, especially nearing the end of the game, ultimately coming up just short.They would end up losing 63-49 at the end of the shootout. The season had come to an end.
Overall, the Bruins finished the season 6-4, Jackson finished the season with 1859 passing yards and 20 TD’s, and 5 Int’s. Kaden finished with 87 rushing attempts, 616 rushing yards, and 5 TD’s. David Hair led the team in receiving yards with 1,072 yards on 62 catches and 11 TD’s. On the defensive, Chis Esparza led the team with 16 sacks. Liam Hone led the team in tackles with 79 tackles, and Aaron Hyatt led the team in Int’s with 5. It was a great season for the Mountain View Bruins. GO BRUINS!