Vandal football falls to defending state champs 34-12

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The Eureka County High School football team struggled to hold onto the ball in its game against the defending 1A State Champions, visiting from Pahranagat Valley on Friday, Aug. 28. Three turnovers ended good drives, and the Panthers capitalized too often with the help of some splash plays to win 34-12.

“Going into the game, we knew we needed to take care of the football and limit big plays,” Eureka head coach Fred Minoletti said. “Unfortunately, we did not do a very good job in either area. We turned the ball over three times and gave up three big plays, including a kickoff return for a touchdown.”

ECHS senior running back Dean Benson punched it in on the goal line to open the scoring for the Vandals and take a 6-0 lead. PVHS junior Bronson Fiatoa answered with a 52-yard touchdown run to take an 8-6 lead after a successful two-point conversion. Fiatoa then threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 16-6 before Benson scored from two yards out to bring the Vandals to within two, 14-12.

PVHS answered immediately by returning the ensuing kickoff 60 yards for a touchdown. Benson nearly returned the favor for Eureka, but stepped out of bounds on his way to the end zone. Eureka did get a good drive going on its next possession, but a fumble put an end to that, and PVHS capitalized on the turnover. Fiatoa hit Rex Marshall with an 8-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal to extend the Panthers’ lead to 28-12 with about a minute remaining in the half. 

The Vandals had a good thing going again thanks to a big pass play from Hank Mentaberry to Cody Bice that moved Eureka deep into Pahranagat territory, but the drive ended with an interception. They received the opening kickoff of the second half and again put together a promising drive before another fumble ended the possession. Later in the game, they also had a touchdown called back because of a penalty in the fourth quarter.

“Alamo is the defending state champion for a reason, and against a quality team like that, we cannot afford to give away extra possessions or allow big plays,” said Minoletti. “So we need to work on improving discipline on defense and ball security on offense.” 

Next up for the Vandals (1-1, 1-0) is a trip to Coleville (0-0) for their second league game of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5.