High school football: Bountiful’s Siaki Fekitoa rushes for 255 yards in thrilling 5A championship win over Roy

A week after his worst performance of the season, Bountiful’s Siaki Fekitoa responded with an outing in Thursday’s 5A state championship that will be the stuff of legend in Davis County for years to come.
The junior quintupled his 50-yard semifinal game with 35 carries for 255 yards and four touchdowns in the title game, including the go-ahead touchdown with 19 seconds remaining as the Redhawks beat Roy 42-35 in a thriller at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
It was the sixth-most rushing yards in state championship history, pushing Fekitoa’s season total to 1,921 yards for the season.
“He’s special. That kid is special, and he’s so fun and he loves the game. He loves his teammates, he’s a great teammate and he’s got a very bright future and, you know, we rode him today,” said Bountiful coach Jason Freckleton, who lifted his alma mater back to championship glory in his fourth season at the helm of the program.
In a wild back-and-forth game that was tied 21-21 after three quarters, the teams combined for 35 points in the fourth, with Fekitoa scoring twice.
Roy tied the game at 35-35 on a third-down touchdown run by Dru Gardner with 4:37 remaining, but Bountiful responded with an 11-play drive that milked the clock down to 19 seconds.
Impressively the Royals gave themselves a chance, moving the ball to midfield with four seconds remaining, but their Hail Mary attempt was caught by Colby Frojker five yards short of the end zone.
“There’s not a ton of words, but it’s a lot of love and gratitude. These are such good kids, our community, our fans, our teachers, our principal — you could just, the list goes on. It’s a village, and to be here, where I was, and for us to get to that level, special,” said Freckleton, who was a sophomore practice team player the last time Bountiful won a state title in 2003.
Roy came into the game hoping to end an even longer title drought that stretched back to 1981. When these teams met in Week 9, Bountiful edged Roy 42-35 as it stuffed the Royals at the 1-yard line on four straight plays.
A month later, the game was decided at the goal line again on Fekitoa’s fourth TD of the game.
“It feels amazing, but, you know, I couldn’t do anything else without my team,” said Fekitoa.
Freckleton said during a timeout before Fekitoa’s TD run, the coaches talked about running out the clock and trying a game-winning field goal attempt, but that’s not how he wanted to end it.
“I wanted the seven. We were considering some different things, and ultimately we said let’s not be cute. Let’s just do what we do well and go score and trust our defense,” he said.
It worked out, but just by five yards.
Statistically, the teams were nearly equal, with Bountiful tallying 456 yards and Roy tallying 440. Roy coach Chris Solomona said it was heartbreaking for his players to come up short in such an entertaining championship game.
“I’m so proud of their efforts. Proud of the way they fought. They never backed down. They never quit. I love them. I’ll miss the senior class. It was just a hell of a run. Fell a little short,” said Solomona.
His team led 21-14 at the half as Logan Cella powered his way to a pair of first-half rushing TDs and was actually outperforming his Bountiful counterpart in yards (90-77) and scores (2-1).
Robert Young’s 2-yard TD reception from Dru Gardner with 10 seconds remaining in the half gave the Royals that cushion. The three TDs came on consecutive drives.
“Going into halftime, we felt good. They made some good adjustments,” said Solomona.
Both offenses struggled coming out of a halftime, with Bountiful punting on its first two drives and Roy punting and fumbling on its first two.
Bountiful’s offense got going on its third drive of the half though, as Fekitoa tied the game at 21-21 on an 11-yard TD run.
After Roy missed a 48-yard field goal on its next possession, Bountiful’s offense impressively marched 80 yards in less than two minutes, with quarterback Emerson Geilman connecting with Connor Clark on a 17-yard TD pass on the first play of the fourth quarter for the 28-21 lead.
What followed was both head-scratching, and amazing.
Bountiful tried an onside kick, with Ryker Cordero scooping it up on a perfect bounce and racing 46-yards untouched the other way, tying the game 28-28.
Why try an onside kick with momentum? Freckleton said it wasn’t necessarily supposed to be that way.
“We were trying to get it to the intermediate part of the field and it ended up going a little shorter than we wanted, so we were trying to keep it out of (Young’s) hand. 5′s phenomenal. We thought we got to keep it away from that dude, but we just, we got too cute,” said Freckleton.
Bountiful’s offense said no big deal. It drove 80 yards in eight plays — its third 80-yard scoring drive of the game — to go back in front 35-28 with 8:06 remaining.
“That’s that resolve that we talked about, a determination. You’re not going to let the wave of emotion carry you, you’re going to stick to what you do. Take a deep breath and get back to it,” said Freckleton.
Roy’s mentality was the same. It responded with its own 80-yard drive, converting two third downs, the last Gardner’s 10-yard scamper on third and 10 as he scrambled to his right and then all the way back to the left just inside the pylon.
With the game now tied 35-35, Bountiful’s response was a simple — give the ball to Fekitoa. He carried the ball seven times on the drive, the last his 21st touchdown of the season.
Prior to the drive, Fekitoa said the message from his coach was a pretty simple one.
“Just finish it. We worked this hard all throughout summer, all throughout season, just finish it,” recalls Fekitoa.
As Freckleton’s team celebrated all around him, he couldn’t help but compare the memories of 21 years ago to those he was experiencing on Thursday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
“I was a sophomore. I was on the practice team, and I remember trying to cover one of our assistants, Dave Carroll, as a corner and I couldn’t do it, but I would try. It was a magical run, and we learned a lot from those guys who banded together, and, you know, I was a part of it,” said Freckleton.
Even though Fekitoa stole the show offensively, Geilman had some key runs, rushing for 64 yards and a touchdown while also passing for 115 yards and a TD.
Gardner finished 15 of 22 for 210 yards and a score in the loss, with Cella adding 153 yards on the ground and two TDs