BOUNTIFUL -- Bountiful High athletics have found themselves in some tough relationships. Ones that would be worthy of a daytime soap opera, but luckily in this case, with a plot. From top to bottom, through each Brave team, they have come to have brutal yet encompassing feuds with different teams that every year seem to come back to the fore front.
The Bountiful soccer team was upset by Sky View 1-0 on Tuesday.
Football has its Lone Peak. A Utah County team whom they have played three times in the last two years with two of those being for the state title. Soccer has had its own installments of "Young and the Restless" type relationships.
Last week they took down the team who took them out of the 4A playoffs last year by beating up on Provo 6-1. Tuesday they faced a team in Sky View that they had the pleasure of dismissing from that same tourney.
Usually the well-equipped Braves have come out on top of these irony filled match ups, until Tuesday afternoon rolled around and Sky View found its own revenge. It was a game full of missed opportunities and physical play, and at the end found Sky View the victor in a 1-0 upset.
As all expected going into this game, with both teams matching up so equally, it was bound to be a physical and low scoring match up. Both teams had given up roughly the same amount of goals per game and had scored close to the same amount as well. Add the new found history between these two squads, and it turned out to be a war.
The first half was all about the defense. Neither team could get more than a sniff at the goal. Bountiful Juniors Nathan Orton, Robbie Stratton, and Sophomore Anthony Hewlett were dominating with nearly every ball that would come near the goal with Tyler Jones being equally tough in the net for the Braves.
On the other side, Drake Fonua, Brian Hebdon, and Courtney Knowles were just as dominating for Bobcats keeping the offensively tough Braves scoreless going into halftime.
The second was bitter sweet for Bountiful. On one hand they dominated offensively, controlling the ball for almost the entire half. However, missed shots and four corners that came up empty plagued the Braves and kept the contest scoreless.
On the other and more positive hand, the defense continued to keep Sky View's talented forwards at bay.
But the irony of this game came through yet again to prove that no one is safe in the state tourney. In a rare confused moment, the Bountiful "D" left a hole the size of Rhode Island in front of the goal and let in a tough header by Bobcat star and leading scorer Eric Anderson to slam home the only goal they would need to upset the Braves and add one more dramatic episode to the newly found rivalry of Sky View and Bountiful.
An obviously disappointing end to what was otherwise a successful year for the Braves found them at 12-3-2 and also with the Region 5 trophy in their trophy case.