Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald
Timpview junior Braxton Wilkerson (26) celebrates making an interception during the Region 7 game against Maple Mountain in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024,
Timpview head coach Donny Atuaia grinned as he talked about the impact of “Swaggy” on the Thunderbirds overall and specifically on Thursday night’s 35-0 win over Maple Mountain in Provo.
Swaggy is the nickname of Timpview junior Braxton Wilkerson, a talented receiver who Atuaia said may have been the team’s leading returning pass catcher from 2023.
But instead of continuing on that trajectory, Wilkerson made a change for the 2024 season.
“My defense coach wanted me to come over to play cornerback,” Wilkerson said. “We have a lot of good receivers this year. I wanted to help the team out, and when I got my opportunity, I made the most of it.”
But all that time working on catching the ball still pays dividends sometimes.
“It’s an advantage,” Wilkerson said. “Coming from offense to defense, it’s like a receiver guarding a receiver.”
Wilkerson used those skills to make the biggest play of the game against the Golden Eagles in the first quarter.
Maple Mountain had stopped the first Thunderbird drive, intercepting a fourth-down pass and then moving down to the Timpview 18-yard line. A score would give the visitors some important momentum to build on.
But on a third-and-5 play, when the Golden Eagles tried to get a first down on an out route, Wilkerson dove in front and made a great play to snatch the interception.
“Our coaches always say that we’ve got to come out and throw the first punch,” Wilkerson said. “We had a good practice this whole week and so when I saw my opportunity make the play, I was ready for it. The defensive line did their job of making the quarterback throw it early, and I saw the ball and I drove on it.”
Timpview turned that interception into a 15-yard TD run by senior quarterback Carson Rasmussen and never looked back.
“We played pretty well,” Wilkerson said. “We had a good game plan coming in and we executed it.”
The Thunderbirds made pretty much every big play the rest of the way, with the defense getting big stops and the offense capitalizing.
Timpview forced a punt, then doubled the lead on a 27-yard touchdown run from senior Chevas Gregory. A pick by junior Kennan Pula resulted in a 21-yard catch-and-run score by junior Jaron Pula from Rasmussen.
In the second half, a blocked punt set Timpview up for a 1-yard plunge by Rasmussen, followed by a final turnover that became a 45-yard Rasmussen TD pass to senior Zedekiah Anahu-Ambrosio.
Fittingly, it was Swaggy (Wilkerson) who made that last interception as well.
“Swaggy does a lot of good stuff for us,” Atuaia said. “He’s just an athlete. I think he is one of the most underrated players in the state with regards to what he can do on the field. He can play a lot of positions.”
Atuaia was pleased with how the entire team came out ready to play at a high level on Senior Night.
“I think they were just excited to perform what their coaches had prepared for them, especially on defense,” Atuaia said. “We know everything we can do on offense but everyone on the defense was locked in.”
Timpview has one more regular season game before turning its attention to the upcoming 5A state playoffs and both Atuaia and Wilkerson see this team gelling at the right time.
“This is a good measurement of what we can do,” Atuaia said. “For now, we’re going to enjoy this win, and go back and get ready. We have Orem next week and I know they are going to be hungry.”
Wilkerson said the keys to reaching their goals are doing the little things.
“We’ve just got to compete every game like it’s a playoff game,” Wilkerson said. “We’ve got to prepare hard in practice and just execute.”
Timpview (5-2) will play at Orem on Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. while Maple Mountain (7-2) has completed its regular season and now will wait to find out what seed it will get in the upcoming 5A state tournament.
