LAYTON – After a perfect non-league schedule, the Northridge High football team opened Region 5 play Friday night with a game against Box Elder.

The result was the same: Northridge extended their lead to 21 points in the first half and easily defeated the Bees 35-7.

Veteran quarterback Tre Nye continued his red-hot start for the Knights, throwing three touchdown passes to three different receivers.

“We get everybody involved. We have great receivers all over the place. Even our backups can step in and make a difference. We’re tough,” Nye said. “Coach called great plays. They tried to change their coverage and stuff, which we’ve accounted for in the game plan and watched on film.”

Junior running back Andrew Ortiz scored two touchdowns, on Northridge’s first drive of the game and on the final play of the second quarter.

With a 28-7 halftime lead, the Knights managed a 13-yard touchdown throw from Nye to Chase Harris, who fought his way to paydirt with 5:55 left in the fourth quarter.

“(Chase) what a great job of getting free and getting to the goal line,” Nye said. “We got a little sloppy and penalties killed our offense in the second half. If we can get the penalties under control, there’s no reason we can’t win 63-7 right now.”

Both teams took advantage of a short field and scored their first touchdowns in the first quarter.

After a three-and-out by the defense, the Knights managed 55 yards in six plays, with Ortiz relying frequently on runs; he scored a touchdown from 3 yards out with 8:05 minutes left in the quarter.

“We ran the same play four times in a row. They couldn’t stop it,” Ortiz said. “We were in perfect position on every play, so we just kept going back until they stopped it. They started filling the box, so we started throwing the ball more.”

After an exchange of punts, the Bees only had to fly 37 yards and accomplished that in seven snaps as senior running back Tyeson Hansen dragged the leather the final 13 yards and Box Elder led 7-6 at the end of the first snap.

But Northridge extended its lead to 28-7 at halftime with three touchdowns in the final six minutes of the half.

The Knights covered 75 yards in 11 plays, culminating in a 6-yard touchdown pass from Nye to Braxton Featherstone at 5:49 of the second stanza, giving them a 14-7 lead.

“I look at Braxton, he taps me. The corner is in the shadows, so I throw the ball to his back shoulder. He jumps up and catches the ball great. Touchdown,” Nye said.

Two and a half minutes later, Nye threw his second touchdown pass of the quarter, this time over the middle to Jaxon Fresques. He ran 43 yards unchallenged to the end zone, making it 21-7 with 3:21 left in the half.

“Jaxon Fresques, man, he’s so fast. He’s going to tear up any secondary we play against,” Nye said. “I believe in him. I have complete confidence in him.”

That seemed to be it for the half when the Knights punted and Box Elder (2-2, 0-1 Region 5) gained possession of the ball at its own 12-yard line with less than a minute left.

Instead of running out the clock, the Bees were forced to punt after three quick plays and dropped the snap. The Knights had a first-and-goal at the 4 with 49 seconds left.

Ortiz, who barely touched the ball after his first-quarter appearance that led to adjustments for Box Elder, scored his second touchdown of the half on the next play.

Northridge’s defense played excellently throughout the game, with Tayven Norvang intercepting a ball midway through the fourth quarter to set up the Knights’ final touchdown.

“Our defense is fantastic; they’ve been phenomenal all year. I expect them to continue that in regional play going forward. We have dogs all over the field making plays,” Nye said. “Now that we’re in the region, nothing that’s behind us matters. We’ve got a really tough region and we’re going to have to play our best football to win.”

The Knights (4-0, 1-0 Region 5) started the season 4-0 for the first time since 2012 and are, as they should be, a confident group.

“Coach (Andrew) Fresques believes in us. This is all great teamwork,” Ortiz said. “We have something special going on. We believe we can go far.”

Nye finished the game completing 18 of 26 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns. Jaxon Fresques caught six passes for 78 yards and Harris caught five passes for 48 yards. Ortiz ran 13 times for 70 yards and caught three passes for 49 yards. Makai So’o led the way with seven tackles, two of which were for loss.

Statistics on Box Elder were not available.

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