Two dominant signal callers in Ryder Hales and Tate Johnson are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Salem Hills Skyhawks will host the Mountain View Bruins at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Salem Hills will be strutting in after a victory while Mountain View will be coming in after a defeat.
Salem Hills is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They walked away with a 41-28 win over Uintah on Friday.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Salem Hills to victory, but perhaps none more so than Benjamin Staheli, who rushed for 53 yards and one score. An impressive showing, but Staheli really ramped things up playing D: he made five total tackles and defended three passes in addition to snagging an interception.
Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Salem Hills proved: they limited Uintah to a paltry 3.3 yards per carry. The team can thank Sam Bradford for the heroic effort on defense: he. Salem Hills' ground attack was stronger, having averaged 5.3.
Salem Hills didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Gordon Wilson, Staheli, and Jake Polson picked up one apiece. Another thorn in Uintah's side was Bradford, who made 26 total tackles.
Meanwhile, while it was all tied up 14-14 at halftime, Mountain View was not quite Timpanogos' equal in the second half on Friday. They were just a hair shy of victory and fell 29-28 to the Timberwolves. The Bruins have struggled against the Timberwolves recently, as the game was their fifth consecutive lost matchup.
Salem Hills will have to keep a close watch on Hyrum Stafford and Carter Vance, a pair of players who had a big impact on Mountain View's prior game. Stafford gained 119 total yards, while Vance rushed for 81 yards on only nine carries. Vance's longest rush was for an impressive 52 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total.
Mountain View now has a losing record of 3-4. As for Salem Hills, they now have a winning record of 4-3.
The upcoming game will be a clash of competing strengths. Salem Hills has relied on air attacks this season and has averaged 291.7 passing yards per game. Mountain View, on the other hand, has relied on a stout run game: they average 159.9 rushing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Thursday? There's only one way to find out.
Salem Hills beat Mountain View 17-7 when the teams last played back in October of 2024. Will the Skyhawks repeat their success, or do the Bruins have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
