When asked what kind of motivational tactics he resorts to when his team needs a little inspiration, Levi Thompson tipped his hand.
“I like to tell everybody to smile a little bit,” he said.
Maybe South Summit High School’s star running back doubles as a psychiatrist. After all, the Wildcats overcame a sloppy first half against rival North Summit High School to win their third game in a row 28-7 Friday night in Coalville.
However, for the Wildcats, wasn’t a very ideal start to the annual rivalry showdown.
The Braves pulled a rabbit out of their hats on the opening kickoff as Nathan Rees took a reverse handoff and went 97 yards to the house to give North Summit a 7-0 lead with merely a few seconds gone off the clock.
But Thompson and his teammates didn’t budge.
“Our philosophy for the year has been to play defense, pretty much,” Thompson said. “It’s the heart of our team and has been since I’ve been in high school. We just came out in the second half and stepped it up.”
North Summit would not find the end zone again.
Thompson rushed for 146 yards on 16 carries, including a 45-yard touchdown run to pull the Wildcats even with the Braves in the first quarter. Thompson even threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Parker Anderson when Thompson lined up in the Wildcat formation late in the third quarter.
Although the first half was characterized by a myriad of turnovers and penalties from both teams, South Summit head coach Jerry Parker knew his team would turn the corner because it had only beaten itself thus far against its rival.
“(North Summit) did a good job with their game plan. They slowed the game down,” Parker said. “We couldn’t get any rhythm, and they did an excellent job with what they do and it kind of caught us off balance.
“Our turnovers just really hurt.”
The momentum began to really shift in the Wildcats’ direction late in the second quarter as the offense marched down the field to take the lead with 26 seconds left before halftime with Anderson finding the end zone on a 2-yard touchdown run.
“It definitely swung the tide. I thought the kids did a really good job of taking care of the clock and getting it down there and punching it in,” Parker said. “Urgency is what we had at that time. Up until that time, there was no urgency on our part.”
South Summit running back Conner Prescott added a 9-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter as the Wildcats extended their lead to 14.
Parker said he knew the team had been playing a style of football dictated by the Braves, and he had a target he wanted his team to hit before he knew the game would be well in hand.
“When we get caught up with (North Summit’s) game, we’re in trouble, especially in Coalville,” he said. “I thought our kids did a good job in the second half of pulling together and getting the job done.”
“We figured if we got up three scores, we’d have the game. North Summit did a great job of keeping it tight for a long time.
South Summit’s defense suffocated the Braves’ offensive attack in the second half, racking up sacks and turnovers with different blitz packages and pressure.
“Play our game,” Thompson said of his team’s second-half dominance. “You just got to see what you see.”
Parker did not hesitate to mention the leaders of his team: Thompson and jack-of-all-trades Trevor Rydalch, who are definite positives to have in such high-profile games.
“I don’t believe (Rydalch) leaves the field,” Parker said. “He’s specials teams, offense, defense.”
“Between (Thompson and Rydalch) we kind of rely on them too much. We need other kids to step up, and they did in the second half.”
South Summit improved its record to 7-1 on the season, with its lone blemish being a loss to San Juan, the No. 1 team in 2A. Next up for the Wildcats is a trip to Moab on Wednesday, where they’ll face the 4-4 Devils. North Summit concludes regular-season play at home against winless North Sevier Wednesday.
Parker will not let his team look down the road to the 2A state playoffs looming ahead and will gladly take a hard-fought rivalry win on the road.
“Our kids get keyed up; their kids get keyed up. It’s the rivalry. More than anything, I think the kids just realized that we had to do our thing,” Parker said. “When we do our thing, we’re fine.”
Thompson echoed the words of his head coach.
“If you’re not thinking about the game, if you’re not worried about things, it just comes natural,” he said.
Erik Daenitz contributed to this report.