In the battle of two of Utah Valley’s best high school teams, both Orem and Lone Peak came into Friday night’s showdown missing key players.

The Class 5A Tigers were without three-position star Kaue Akana, a wide receiver-safety-kicker phenom who is recovering from an injury.

The Class 6A Knights played with starting quarterback Kepa Niumeitolu on the sideline, serving the second of a two-game suspension for getting ejected late in the state championship game last season.

Lone Peak’s other stars stepped up as the Knights got out to a big lead and cruised to a 34-21 victory.

“They (Orem) are a great team,” Knights coach Bart Brockbank said. “They’ve got a lot of dudes. We had some self-inflicted things and made some bad errors. But I like our hustle and I like our grit.”

The Knights are looking forward to the return of Niumeitolu, who accounted for more than 2,500 yards and 29 touchdowns last season. But Brockbank also feels his team has benefited from having to step up to replace Niumeitolu’s production and presence on the field.

“It definitely helped get Cruzie (backup quarterback Cruz Christensen) ready,” Brockbank said of his starter’s absence. “and Cruz has played awesome. He’s done everything we could ask. Kepa has been a great leader. He stepped back and hasn’t taken hardly any reps the past several weeks. He’s helped Cruz and think its really helped the overall team chemistry, seeing Kepa take it like a man. He was a captain last year and I rarely have a junior that gets to be a captain. The boys love him and he’s definitely the leader of the team. We’re glad to have him back.”

Orem coach Lance Reynolds Jr. admitted his team was banged up coming into the game and he needs to see more consistency.

“We made some big plays but it’s the in-between plays that are hurting us,” he said, adding that Akana will likely be back in two weeks for his first action of the season.

Thanks to a fake punt and a penalty, Orem’s first possession penetrated into Lone Peak territory. But Gabe Harmon stepped in front of a Tiger’s pass and sped 75 yards for a touchdown, giving the home team a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter. On the Knights next possession, Jaren Pula took a short pass from Christensen, side-stepped a tackler and sped 82 yards down the sideline for a score, pushing Lone Peak’s lead to 14-0.

Orem found some offense moments later. Alabama commit Tayden Ka’awa connected with speedy Max Stonebraker over the middle for a 67-yard catch and run, cutting the deficit to 14-7 after one quarter.

Jake Barker kicked a 33-yard field goal for a 17-7 Knights lead and just before the end of the half Tate Barney broke several tackles on his way to an 11-yard touchdown run and Lone Peak led 24-7 at the half.

To open the third quarter, Arona Kaili and Kennan Pula teamed up for a big play to put Lone Peak in scoring position and Isaac Fonua scored on a 2-yard run for a 31-7 advantage.

Ka’awa had a couple of touchdown passes for Orem in the second half, including a 46-yard bomb to tight end Kai Wesley to pull within 10 points at 31-21 on the first play of the fourth quarter. But that was as close as the Tigers would get.

“We have to clean up a few things defensively on the long balls, but I think overall, our defense has been pretty stout,” Brockbank said. “We’re a bit younger on defense, but they’ve been awesome.”

The run production between Isaac Fonua and Tate Barney was good and will only get better when Niumeitolu returns.

“Our offense has done a really good job scoring some points and putting pressure on the other team,” Brockbank said. “I think our boys up front take it pretty seriously. They want to earn a steak dinner every week and if we run for 200 yards they get a steak dinner.”

Lone Peak (2-0) will be a heavy favorite in the annual preseason meeting with Timpview (0-2) since the T-Birds have been outscored by a combined 98-48 by West and American Fork to open their schedule.

Orem (1-1) will go out of state to play Rocky Mountain (Idaho) next Friday.