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Lone Peak junior Landon Goff intercepts a pass in the end zone during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak players celebrate with senior Brooks Wilde (24) after he scored a touchdown during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak junior Jayden Mayberry gets dragged down after intercepting a pass during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak senior Trey Robinson can't quite reach a pass during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak senior Matthias Nawahine eludes a tackler during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak senior quarterback Jackson Blake throws a pass during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak senior Teagan Towle makes a sack during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak senior Logan Hofheins runs the ball up the field during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak defenders including junior Jayden Mayberry (1) make a tackle during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak senior Trey Robinson catches a pass during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak senior Brooks Wilde breaks a tackle during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak senior Trey Robinson can't quite reach a pass during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak junior Landon Goff makes a tackle during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak senior Logan Hofheins gets tackled during the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lone Peak players prepare to take the field before the 6A second round game against Mountain Ridge in Herriman on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

❮ ❯

Maybe the No. 10-seeded Lone Peak football team should temporarily change its mascot from Knights to Interceptors.

Lone Peak entered Friday’s 6A second-round game against No. 7-seed Mountain Ridge in Herriman with 21 picks on the year.

Knight junior defensive back Landan Goff, however, hadn’t been able to get a single one this season.

“We talk about all the time about how every play matters and you never know which play is going to be the play that turns the momentum,” Lone Peak head coach Bart Brockbank said. “We’ve been teasing that kid all year because he’s the only one out of our secondary who hadn’t gotten a pick all year.”

But Goff certainly picked a pretty good time to get Interception No. 1.

In the second quarter of a scoreless game, the Sentinels had taken advantage of a couple of Knight penalties to get inside the Lone Peak red zone.

Sensing an opportunity to take the lead and seize control, Mountain Ridge went for the end zone.

“I just read the quarterback,” Goff said. “It gave us a lot of momentum. We turned the game around by not letting them score.”

His pick stymied the best Sentinel offensive attack and started the Knight interception party. Lone Peak would get three more (two from senior Matthias Nawahine and one by junior Jayden Mayberry) as the Knights held on for the 14-3 victory to advance to the quarterfinals.

“I was waiting for that first interception and finally got it,” Goff said. “It was a big moment and it felt great. Next time, though, I need to take it to the crib. But I think the biggest thing is that we play together. On defense, we play as a family and we just have like goals we set like how many picks we want to get.”

When Brockbank was asked why his defense is so good at getting interceptions, he grinned and said there is a simple reason.

“Our safeties and corners, they want the ball,” Brockbank said. “They want to play receiver, so they try to go out and prove that they could play receiver by going and getting picks. They tell me all the time: ‘See? I can play receiver.’ They just find ways to do it.”

Lone Peak turned Mayberry’s interception midway through the second quarter into a 1-yard touchdown plunge by senior running back Brooks Wilde to take a 6-0 lead (the extra point was blocked), but Mountain Ridge responded.

Thanks to a short kickoff, a good return and two quick passes, the Sentinels got in range for star kicker Brody Laga to drill a 56-yards field goal as time expired, making the score 6-3 at the half.

Lone Peak got the ball to start the second half but two plays didn’t gain a single yard and the Knights faced a big third-and-10. Failure to convert would give Mountain Ridge the ball with good field position and the momentum on their side.

But Lone Peak senior quarterback Jackson Blake connected with sophomore Jasean Mayberry for an 11-yard gain and a big first down.

The Knights started clicking, getting three straight first downs before Blake found senior Trey Robinson behind the Sentinel defense for a 35-yard touchdown.

That turned out to be all the scoring, although both teams had opportunities to change that.

In addition to the two Nawahine interceptions, Lone Peak stopped Mountain Ridge twice on fourth down. That offset the two Knight turnovers on downs inside the Sentinel 20-yard line.

“Our defense has been solid all year,” Brockbank said “That helps us when we struggle a little bit on offense, obviously.”

There was an added motivation for Lone Peak, since they had lost to Mountain Ridge earlier in the year.

“We just needed to come out and show them,” Goff said. “In that first game we had a lot of mistakes while today we executed a lot better.”

Brockbank said that was rewarding for his team after the disappointment in the outcome in the first matchup.

“There was definitely some revenge factor,” Brockbank said. “Our kids took that loss pretty hard and they definitely wanted to come out show that we could beat them.”

Now Lone Peak turns its attention to facing one of the top teams in the state as it will face No. 2-seed Corner Canyon in the 6A quarterfinals.

“You’ve got to play them some time, right?” Brockbank said. “I keep telling the boys whether we play them in the semis, whether you play them in the quarters, you’ve still got to beat the best teams. Our goal is to go out and play our best game. When we play four quarters, we can hang with anybody when we’re healthy.”

The Knights will take on the Chargers in Draper on Nov. 3 at 6 p.m.