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Lone Peak players rush the field prior to their game versus IMG Academy. August 21, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak's student section dressed in celebration of the United States of American during Friday's game versus IMG Academy. August 21, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak running back Phil Mounga bounces it outside during his team's game versus IMG Academy

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak defensive coordinator Ryan Denny instructs his players during a game versus IMG Academy. August 21, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak quarterback attempts a pass during his team's loss to IMG Academy on Friday. August 21, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak's Phil Mounga looks for space to run versus IMG Academy. August 21, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

❮ ❯

Even if you’re a program as decorated and historically competitive as Lone Peak football, things can get ugly when taking on a team like IMG Academy.

The Knights found that out in earnest on Friday in taking a 59-3 loss to to the Bradenton, Florida-based program and its roster full of 4-star prospects with an amazing 90% of the players holding major offers from the top division on college football.

At no juncture was Friday’s game in question following IMG’s opening touchdown scored just 30 seconds after the ball was kicked off, up until the final stamp in the form of a 5-yard touchdown run with just over three minutes left. All in all it marked the single biggest defeat in Lone Peak football history, although when qualifying in the strength of opponent, it softens the blow, at least a bit.

“There’s no question that’s the most talented team I’ve ever played against,” said Lone Peak coach Bart Brockbank after. “We gave them way too much too early and I think our guys got a little scared after that, which you don’t want to see. But we fought back, and defensively I thought that we fought pretty hard, but offensively we have some things to fix. Again, IMG is a phenomenal team, but you can’t let them just come out and dictate how the game is going to go like we unfortunately did in those first five minutes.”

Turnovers were the major problem from the get-go. Interceptions, on top of blocked punts time and again placed Lone Peak’s defense in unfavorable predicaments, which IMG capitalized on time and again in forging a 21-0 lead after the first quarter before extending that lead to 38-0 at the half.

And that’s the way it went for the rest of the game, although Lone Peak did show at least some life offensively during junctures during the second half play while IMG took some weight off of the gas pedal offensively.

Taking the brunt of a lot of IMG’s immense pressure was Lone Peak quarterback, Cruz Christensen, who played the entire game due to Brockbank hoping to see his senior quarterback bounce back and gain some confidence versus the most-stacked defense he’s likely to ever go against.

“They were getting to him really quick early, and that rattled him,” Brockbank said. “But I was happy with how he settled down during the second half. He had some good gainers and got in the flow a little bit. We had some decent drives, but we have to work better in sustaining those same drives. We did some stupid things, whether it was snaps over the head or dropped balls, and you expect our guys to not do those type of things regardless of who we’re playing against. But I liked how we continued to compete and how we settled down.”

The hope is that Friday’s experience can be parlayed into much-improved play for the remainder of the season.

“We knew coming into this that it was going to be an enormous challenge, and our goal — we weren’t looking at this game so much in terms of score, but how we competed,” Brockbank said. “I wasn’t happy with how we competed at the start, but I felt as the game went on that we competed better, so you like that. But overall we were punched hard in the face, no doubt. But how are you going to respond to that? That’s kind of the idea of getting a team like that early, and now it’s about how we respond after getting humbled like we were tonight. We think we can be a great team this year, and hopefully this experience helps achieve that.”

Lone Peak will travel to take on Skyline next week before hosting another nationally top-ranked program when Bishop Gorman (Nev.), the same team the Knights almost upset last season in a game played in Las Vegas.

• IMG Academy, Fla. — (11:27 1Q) 1-yard run (kick successful)
• IMG Academy, Fla. — (8:57 1Q) 3-yard pass (kick successful)
• IMG Academy, Fla. — (0:42 1Q) 3-yard run (kick successful)
• IMG Academy, Fla. — (9:49 2Q) 95-yard punt return (kick successful)
• IMG Academy, Fla. — (6:33 2Q) 4-yard run (kick successful)
• IMG Academy, Fla. — (0:02 2Q) 38-yard FG
• IMG Academy, Fla. — (6:16 3Q) 34-yard pass (kick successful)
• IMG Academy, Fla. — (4:08 3Q) 30-yard run (kick successful)
• Lone Peak — (1:46 3Q) Zachary Zolman, 45-yard FG
• IMG Academy, Fla. — (3:55 4Q) 5-yard run (kick successful)