Civil War: Hillcrest pulls away in the third quarter to continue its dominance against Bonneville in rivalry game

IDAHO FALLS – Entering Friday’s Civil War rivalry game between Hillcrest and Bonneville it was clear that the Bees would likely need to play near-perfect football if they were going to hang around with the defending state champion Knights.

They almost did.

At least for a half.

And then Hillcrest did what it does best.

The Knights took advantage of Bees mistakes and they hit the big plays when they needed. The offense was balanced and the defense was stout on the way to a 49-14 win in front of a boisterous crowd on both sides of the stadium.

The rivalry has become a bit one-sided as Hillcrest has now won 11 of the last 12 Civil War meetings.

“It’s awesome,” Hillcrest quarterback Tyson Sweetwood said after the team celebrated with the trophy, taking numerous photos to commemorate the victory. “The Civil War is a big deal around here, so to get that win out of the way is awesome. It gives us momentum to carry into the rest of the season.”

Sweetwood finished 21-26 for 276 yards and three touchdowns.

Dax Sargent ran for three touchdowns.

Early on it was Bonneville (0-3,0-1) taking advantage of mistakes as the Bees forced a fumble deep in Hillcrest territory and scored to tie the game at 7-7.

But things turned late in the second quarter when the Bees fumbled at the Hillcrest 1-yard line.

Hillcrest drove 99 yards in the closing minutes and capped the drive when Sweetwood hit Mason Davis for a 39-yard touchdown with zeros on the clock.

Hillcrest (2-0, 1-0) came out of the locker room up 21-7 and then scored on its first three possessions of the third quarter to pull away.

“We just played our game,” Sweetwood said of the offensive surge. “Offensive line did a great job of pass protection and receivers were making good plays. I just think we came out and played our game.”

Bonneville’s Jaxton Briggs connected with Kaine Rodriguez for a 14-yard score late in the third to cut the deficit to 42-14, but the Bees would get no closer.

“We were hoping to score and then go up and come back out and score again,” Bonneville coach Shane Stephenson said of the turnover before the end of the half. “Obviously, they turned that into a good drive.”

Stephenson noted that the Bees were looking to improve on both sides of the ball after getting beat in their first two games.

“Last week our kids didn’t play very well,” Stephenson said. “This week I thought they played better. They played the full game. We had our ups and downs … If we continue this momentum we’ll be really good by the time the playoffs come and that’s when it matters.”

Aiden Mora finished with 134 rushing yards and Rodriguez had four catches for 89 yards for Bonneville.

Hillcrest hosts Thunder Ridge next week, while Bonneville continues conference play with a game at Idaho Falls.