By Josh McFadden | [email protected]

On Sept. 28, an uncommon occurrence took place involving the Bingham football team.

It lost a game.

A 17-14 loss to Region 4 foe Lone Peak snapped the Miners’ impressive 33-game winning streak. Their last loss, incidentally, was to Lone Peak in the 2015 state semifinals when Lone Peak and the Miners were in different regions. The Sept. 28 setback ended another long streak for Bingham. It was the first time it had lost a regular season game since Sept. 4, 2015, when it fell to national powerhouse Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nevada) 36-20. The Miners’ last regular season loss to a team from Utah was way back on Sept. 27, 2012, to ... take a guess … Lone Peak. 

Bingham football defeats just don’t happen very often.

In this most recent defeat, the Miners led 7-0 in the second quarter but surrendered 17 straight points to the Knights. In the fourth quarter, Bingham got within three on an 80-yard burst into the end zone from Andrew Wimmer, but the Miners couldn’t grab the lead. 

Bingham bounced back nicely from the uncharacteristic loss. Following a 52-0 blowout of Hunter on Oct. 5, it edged American Fork in a thrilling 28-24 contest at home. In a back-and-forth contest, the Miners trailed 24-21 with less than a minute to play when quarterback Peyton Jones found Briasen Harward in the end zone from 11 yards out. Jones also had a pair of touchdown runs earlier in the game from 1 yard and 38 yards out.

The Miners finished in a three-way tie with Lone Peak and American Fork atop Region 4, as each squad went 3-1 against league opponents. It was the seventh straight year the Miners have either shared or won outright a region championship.

Tiebreakers gave Bingham the No. 2 seed from the region. The Miners will host Herriman Oct. 26 at 5 p.m. A victory would pit Bingham against the winner of Kearns and Northridge on Nov. 2 in the quarterfinals. Bingham would play Kearns—the top team from Region 2—on the road but would face Northridge at home.  

Not only did Bingham lose to Lone Peak, but it had some close calls this season. In addition to the last-second four-point triumph over American Fork in the regular season finale, the Miners edged Pleasant Grove 35-32 on Sept. 14 and got past Mountain Pointe (Arizona) 21-14 on Sept. 8.

Of course, the Miners still had their typical dominance. They had five wins of 17 points or more and held four opponents to single digits. 

Bingham has had several contributors in the ground game, including Jones and Evona Hall, who have been the team’s leading ball carriers. Jones’ favorite targets through the air have been Jake Cragun, Avi Parikh and Wimmer, each of whom had double figures in catches during the regular season. 

On defense, Lolani Langi, David Latu, Aiden Larsen, Saleka Ataata, Simote Pepa and Junior Tafuna, among others, have stood out.