Las Vegas • Alta football’s offensive prowess hit a brick wall Saturday against Las Vegas’ Liberty, which many consider to be the second-best team in Nevada, behind national powerhouse Bishop Gorman.
After scoring 177 points in its first three games this season, Alta was stymied in a 28-7 loss to the Patriots in the inaugural Polynesian Football Classic at Sam Boyd Stadium.
“We came to win a game and we fell short today,” Alta coach Alema Te’o said. “I felt like we came out and played hard, felt like we spotted these guys 14 points early. At the beginning, we had a couple of calls go against our way. I thought it was a lot closer than it was, but you learn from it.”
The Hawks (2-2) came into the game averaging 511 offensive yards but managed just 328 yards against the physical Patriots (2-1), who came into the game looking to make amends after being shut out by Plantation (Fla.) American Heritage 31-0 last week.
Senior quarterback Will Dana finished the day 23 of 39 for 220 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, including a pick-6 by freshman safety Zyrus Fiaseu, whose 70-yard TD proved to be the dagger.
“They’re a great team — 30th in the country or whatever and one of the best teams in Nevada,” Dana said. “They knew what they were doing, they’re well coached, they got some big dudes, studs, so yeah, they got to us. They were man coverage a lot and our receivers were open, but I struggled to get the ball off on time. We should have done a lot better.”
Alta’s defense, which had allowed an average of 349.5 yards in its last two games since giving up 744 in the season-opening double OT loss to Lehi, was torched for 459 yards, including 342 passing by Liberty quarterback Kenyon Oblad, who is on pace to become Nevada’s all-time career passing leader.
“He was more loose in person than we saw on the film,” Te’o said about Oblad, who needs 374 yards to set the career record. “I felt he did a good job of escaping out of stuff, and props to him. Our goal was to try to move him around and try to get to him and try to rattle him a little bit. His O-line did a good job for the most part. We weren’t able to get to him as often as I would have liked to. A good quarterback like that, you can’t give him time to sit in the pocket and pick you apart.”
Alta’s Zach Engstrom, who is battling a shoulder injury, didn’t show any signs of struggle while hauling in 15 receptions for 133 yards. McCoy Didericksen put in blue-collar work for the Hawks, rushing for 51 yards on seven carries, while catching three passes for 26 yards, including the team’s only touchdown.
“I felt like our kids came out and slugged it out and was representative of the kind of football we play up in Utah,” said Te’o, whose Hawks will enjoy a bye week before playing at Cottonwood on Sept. 22.