Brian E. Preece, Herald correspondent
Payson and Richfield players line up for a play during the non-region game at Payson Friday, Aug. 31, 2024.
Payson High School and the Payson community was buzzing as Onion Days activities were just beginning for the Labor Day weekend.
The school itself was hosting three class reunions along with a performance of The Secret Garden. And Friday night Payson was playing Richfield in football followed by fireworks.
During the game Santaquin Police Sergeant Bill Hooser, who was killed last May, was honored with an accompanying effort to raise funds to help his family visit Washington D.C. when he will be honored with other officers across the nation that lost their lives in the line of duty.
The only damper on the festivities was the football game itself where Richfield extended its state-leading winning streak to 16 games at the expense of the Payson Lions, 36-7.
The fireworks blasted off early as the game was completed exactly at 9 p.m. In fact, the first half just took 38 minutes, but it was a nightmare for the Lion faithful as Richfield built up a 28-0 lead.
The second half was more competitive as the Wildcats outscored Payson just 8-7. Payson looked like they might make a game of it but couldn’t come up with any points in the third quarter despite getting deep into Richfield territory multiple times.
“We talked about taking opportunities and we didn’t take them today and the score got out of hand,” Payson head coach Brian Wall said.
There were some bright spots for the Lions as Brogan Broderick had two second-half sacks, one of which stopped a fourth-down conversion attempt by Richfield.
Bryson Gull was a top target for Lion quarterback Trevyn Wall while David Fullmer hauled in a 26-yard touchdown pass from Wall in the final stanza to finally get Payson on the scoreboard.
Though Richfield is a 3A school, the Wildcats showed why they won the state title last year and why they should again be formidable in 2024. Their spread offense was very effective in both the short and intermediate passing game but also gaining huge chunks of yardage on the ground. The Wildcat defense was stellar throughout the game rising up at crucial times to stop Payson from getting back into the contest.
“Richfield does a good job executing, and they are a very good team,” said Wall. “We wish we would have come out and competed a little better in the first half. Second half I felt we came out and competed but (we) still had mistakes in the red zone, and we didn’t take opportunities that were in front of us.”
Malik Fautin scored three times for Richfield, while his teammate Gage Yardley crossed the goal line twice. Wildcat quarterback Griffin Wayman had two touchdowns passing.
Payson (1-2) will open up region play next week as the Lions host Mountain View (2-1). Meanwhile, Richfield (3-0) will hope to extend its winning streak to 17 games when it visits Delta (1-2). Both games will be Friday at 7 p.m.
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