After HLV cut the Lone Tree lead to 42-40 in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game, the Lion offense prepared for a pivotal possession with 8:30 left on the clock. 

Junior receiver Drew Gauley received the Warrior kickoff at his own 8-yard line and ran toward the left sideline. He saw a hole open up to his right, and he was gone. 

Seventy-two yards to the house.

The big return came after Lone Tree switched from having a pair of returners deep to just Gauley. 

“So we were just hoping to get some really nice blocks, and that is exactly what we got,” Gauley explained. “C-Patt (Cade Patterson) Matt (Hemsted), Joe (Boxwell) and everybody up front, they threw some big blocks and that opened a huge hole.”

The Warriors put up the first 19 points of the second half, but Lone Tree outscored HLV 38-7 the rest of the way.

“This was an amazing game,” Lone Tree coach Aaron Bohr said. “I think I'll remember this game for a long time, just because you really had a lot of big shifts in momentum.”

A pair of long touchdown passes gave Lone Tree a 28-14 lead at the half, but that lead was gone less than five minutes into the third quarter. 

The Warriors took advantage of a short kickoff and a pair of Lone Tree turnovers to go ahead 33-28. 

Facing first-and-20 from the 15-yard line, quarterback Cade Shield broke free for back-to-back runs of 25 and 40 yards, crossing the goal line as time expired in the third quarter. A 2-point pass from Shield to Jack Buser put the Lions ahead 36-33 and Lone Tree never trailed again. 

“There were certain times it looked like things were kind of turning against us,” Bohr said.

“But we’ve got a lot of bulldogs on this team. We’ve got a lot of guys that get after it and guys that take a lot of pride in what they do. And they just righted the ship.”

Lone Tree did not have a passing touchdown in its first three games and averaged fewer than 65 passing yards per game. 

On Friday, Shield completed 19 of 26 passes for 285 yards and five touchdowns.

HIs fellow senior Cade Patterson had all but 19 of Lone Tree’s 187 receiving yards through three games, but on Friday, Shield spread the ball around. 

Hemsted caught seven passes for 45 yards and a touchdown, while Gauley caught two balls for 98 yards and a score. 

“We noticed their corners were playing back, so we wanted to get going short,” Gauley said. “They started pressing up on us and then we started getting everything deep. You know, we just got what we wanted.”

Gauley got behind the defense for a 65-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Three minutes later, Patterson hauled in a pass for a 63-yard score. 

Patterson had eight catches for 132 yards and three touchdowns. 

“We know in the past we haven't had very many guys invovled in the passing game,” Patterson said. "So we were just trying to get the ball to more guys and we were able to throw it all over. 

“Joe (Boxwell) and Matt (Hemsted) were great blockers and our line gave great protection.”

The Lions were without Tyler Bell, who suffered a collarbone injury at English Valleys. Bell led the team in tackles for loss with 7.5 for the season. Bell also led the Lion running backs with 20 carries for 104 yards. 

His injury left the Lions with only Shield having more than 10 carries or 50 rushing yards through the first three games. 

“You saw we made quite a bit of changes on offense, we really are a different team without Tyler on the field,” Bohr said. “He's our most natural athlete as far as playing football goes, but we’ve got a lot of other guys that can make plays too. With Cade (Shield) and Cade (Patterson) especially, we knew we would have to put it on them, to carry the load on offense. 

“Everybody did what they had to do. It was a team effort. You can’t replace a guy like Tyler Bell with one guy, and we had a lot of guys that looked good in his absence.”

Shield ran for all 156 of Lone Tree's rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Caden Smith led the defense with 8.5 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss. 

Defensively, the Lions gave up a few big plays, but came up with key turnovers as well. 

Shield returned a fumble 27 yards to the 9-yard line with the game tied 6-6 late in the first quarter, leading to a Lion touchdown. Patterson’s second-quarter interception in the endzone led to a touchdown on the next play. 

“Anytime you can steal a possession in eight man football, that's a big deal,” Bohr said.  “When you put up a combined 100 points on the board, you're not gonna have a whole lot of punting. You're going to have a lot of big plays. And if you can make plays on defense, that's usually going to be the difference in the game.”

Hemsted had a huge fumble recovery early in the fourth quarter as the Lions were protecting just a three-point lead. 

Trailing 50-40 with under seven minutes left, the Warriors elected to go for it on fourth-and-3 from their own 21-yard line. The pass fell incomplete. Four plays later, from five yards out, Shield got to the edge and put the dagger in HLV. 

SCORING SUMMARY

HLV            6    8    19   7    --   40

Lone Tree   6   22    8   30   --   66

HLV: Beau York 2 run (kick failed)

LT: Matt Hemsted 30 pass from Cade Shield (pass failed)

LT: Cade Patterson 5 pass from Shield (Joe Boxwell pass from Shield)

HLV: York 5 run (Donavin Kruse pass from Jack Cheney)

LT: Drew Gauley 65 pass from Shield (Patterson pass from Shield)

LT: Patterson 63 pass from Shield (pass failed)

HLV: Dylan Schafbuch 19 pass from Cheney (Kruse pass from Cheney)

HLV: York 3 run (Cheney run)

HLV: Ben Thys 40 field goal

LT: Shield 40 run (Jack Buser pass from Shield)

LT: Patterson 29 pass from Shield (run failed)

HLV: Kruse 6 run (Thys kick)

LT: Gauley 72 kick return (Shield run)

LT: Shield 5 run (Hemsted pass from Shield)

LT Shield 16 run (Boxwell run)

LONE TREE PASSING: Cade Shield, 19-of-26, 285 yards, 5 TD, 1 Int.

LONE TREE RUSHING: Shield, 18-156; Joe Boxwell, 2-0

LONE TREE RECEIVING: Cade Patterson, 8-132 3 TD; Drew Gauley, 2-98, 1 TD; Matt Hemsted 7-45, 1 TD; Boxwell 2-10. 

LEADING TACKLERS: Caden Smith, 8.5; Patterson 7.5; Hemsted, 6.5; Shield, 5; Hotz, 4.5; Braden Viers, 4.

RECORDS: Lone Tree, 3-1; HLV 1-3.