Beaver • After moving down from Class 3A this year, Delta looked to replace two-time defending 2A champion Beaver as the state champion.
That still could happen later in the year. On this night, though, Beaver’s Tyce Raddon was not about to let happen.
Raddon did a bit of everything Friday night to lead Beaver to a come-from-behind 34-21 win over Delta in a battle of unbeaten top-ranked teams.
He scored on runs of 2, 10, 22 and 1 yards and converted a 2-point conversion on offense.
Defensively, the senior linebacker recovered a fumble, stopped a Delta drive on a fourth-and-1 situation and seemed to be involved in the majority of his team’s tackles.
PLAYER OF THE GAME <br>Beaver’s Tyce Raddon scored four touchdowns and a 2-point conversion, stopped a Delta drive with a fourth-and-1 stop and recovered a fumble to lead the Beavers to a come-from-behind 34-21 win over the Rabbits in a battle of Class 2A unbeatens.
“They were kicking our butts at half,” said Raddon, whose grandfather Alan was either the coach or assistant during Beaver’s early glory days. “We came together at halftime and got it together.”
Raddon said this was probably his best game offensively and felt as though this was a big early season win.
“They were coming from 3A, so it was big to see where we were at,” he said.
Delta, behind the play of star back Dallin Draper and quarterback Layton Day, looked to be the better of the two teams early. The Rabbits got a nice touchdown pass from Day to Trevor Burton and two scoring runs from Draper to lead 21-14 at the half.
BEAVER 34, DELTA 21 <br>• Tyce Raddon scores four touchdowns and an extra point, recovers a fumble and comes up with a key fourth-down stop to keep Beaver unbeaten. <br>• Dallas Draper scores twice for Delta. <br>• Porter Hollingshead adds a 44-yard run for Beaver.
“We just stuck with our game plan,” Beaver coach Jon Marshall said. “Delta got tired. We just run the football. I was proud of her boys.”
He had much to be proud of on a picture-perfect night in central Utah.
The “B” on the mountain was lit. Fans parked around the Main Street stadium, tailgated and sat in pickup truck beds to watch the game. And the school’s scary-loud cannon boomed each time the Beavers scored a touchdown.
It might not have started well for 2A’s top team, which travels to Kamas to test South Summit next week. But it ended splendidly.