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Omarian Sanders lifts up his teammate, Beckham Bennett following a second half touchdown during their team's loss to Mountain Ridge. August 13, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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Skyridge quarterback Jagger Fountaine rolls out while looking for receivers downfield during his team's 41-26 loss to Mountain Ridge. August 13, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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Skyridge quarterback Jagger Fountaine prepares to take the snap during his team's loss to Mountain Ridge on Thursday. August 13, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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High winds, lots of rain, and way too many unforced errors put a damper on Skyridge’s season debut during Thursday’s 41-26 loss at the hands of Mountain Ridge.

Even so, Skyridge coach Justin Hemm saw enough positive things from his team to harness and then win a lot of games this season.

“We have a good group of boys, and we knew that going into the season. These boys compete and they didn’t quit even when we had a lot of things not go our way,” he said. “But in the end, we just made way too many mistakes to beat a team like this. We’ll address those things. Tonight wasn’t the game we were hoping for, but we’ll address the things that need to be addressed and get better from here.”

Perhaps first on the priority list for the Falcons will be to fix the execution issues on special teams that played a big role in Thursday’s loss.

After securing a promising 20-13 lead at the half, Skyridge received the second half kickoff, and after the initial drive stalled at midfield, it was forced to punt. A low snap was fumbled by the punter, which the Sentinels recovered to put them in prime position to forge a game-tying touchdown drive.

Then midway through the fourth quarter, with Mountain Ridge leading 34-26, the same exact thing happened again with the same result. The ensuing Sentinel touchdown this time really put Hemm’s team in a big hole, down 41-26 with just over five minutes remaining.

“It wasn’t only turning over the football, but we turned it over in bad spots, giving them really good field position,” Hemm said. “All the mistakes really caught up to us. We’d work to get ourselves back in a good situation, which I liked a lot, but then we’d make a mistake and have to start over again. Momentum swings went against us, and yeah, just way too many mistakes, but we’ll fix it.”

Extra point execution was also lacking, with snap issues again serving up two missed extra points, which could have ultimately proven devastating given how close the game proved throughout most of the 48 minutes of play.

Skyridge set the tone early, using two touchdown passes from Jagger Fountaine to receivers Dax Rehrer and then to Beckham Bennett, respectively to top off an initial 13-yard scoring run by Fountaine. The result was an early 20-6 as the Falcons appeared poised to roll while looking to be in the form of a team in midseason form considering the crisp execution on both sides of the football.

But a late touchdown by Skyridge closed that lead to 20-13 before things snowballed considerably throughout the second half of play.

“I thought we played hard and gave good effort, but the communication in all three phases could have been better,” Hemm assessed. “But this is a game where we just have to take it on the chin and learn from.”

The second half saw Beckham score his second touchdown of the night on a 17-yard pass from Fountaine to cut the lead to 27-26 early in the fourth quarter, but thing got away from the Falcons from there. Fountaine proved productive throughout, throwing for three touchdowns and running for another with many more like outings certain to be in the cards as Skyridge looks to reverse its fortunes throughout the rest of the season.

“I know these boys and I know their resolve and how they work,” Hemm concluded. “We have some tough games coming up, but we’ll learn from this. We have a great group of boys here, and I know how disappointed all of them are. But then I know how they’ll all use it to motivate them to get better.”

Skyridge (0-1) will look to rebound when taking on Orem next Friday before playing two out-of-state opponents, Hun (New Jersey) and Liberty (Nevada), before returning to play in-state programs.