High school football: Richfield runs over Manti — literally — for 21st straight win

Eric Thorson’s return to Richfield High School continues to be a wild success.
Bolstered by an incredible performance from their offensive line, the Wildcats stayed undefeated on the year and won their 21st straight game in a convincing 28-7 victory over Manti Friday, moving to 8-0 on the season in defense of their 2023 state championship.
The Wildcats almost exclusively ran the ball on Manti, and it worked like a charm. Quarterback Griffin Wayman led with two rushing touchdowns, while senior Malik Fautin broke the game open with a 42-yard TD run in a shockingly low-scoring first half between two of 3A’s top three offenses.
Thorson returned for his second stint as head coach of Richfield at the beginning of 2023, and the Wildcats haven’t lost since. Richfield has now won three straight over the Templars (including last year’s title game), and this Week 8 win even mirrored the exact score of last year’s tilt in Manti.
“I didn’t think about that until you said it,” Thorson said. “It’s special for these kids. They work really hard and they work hard to do things right. To see that score, that’s what they earned.”
The game, just like last season, was billed as a battle between physicality and finesse, pitting Richfield’s ground game and line power against the high-flying passing attack of Manti led by senior Maison Starkweather, a top three quarterback in the state.
Manti’s usual Air Raid-style offense switched it up on the Wildcats, forcing a heavy dose of running back Tala Taulapapa. The strategy actually worked well in moving the ball on a stout Wildcat defense well-accustomed to intercepting balls.
The Templars gained yards with relative ease throughout the first half, although two fumbles on keepers by Starkweather and a fourth-down stop inside Richfield’s 5-yard line by the Wildcats kept Manti’s 42 points per game-scoring offense holding a goose-egg going into halftime.
By the end of the first quarter, Richfield had just one first down. That’s when Thorson got the message from his linemen loud and clear. Manti’s defense was tough, but Thorson’s boys had a big advantage in the interior, and they knew it.
For the rest of the game, Richfield almost exclusively ran the ball up the gut on Manti’s interior defense and succeeded in breaking through nearly every time.
After stopping Manti on fourth down at their own 2-yard line in the second quarter, the Wildcats rode the backs of seniors Gage Yardley and Fautin to complete a 98-yard scoring drive, capped by a breakaway 42-yard steamroll by Fautin.
“I mean, it was working,” Fautin said. “Why change it up?”
It was working, and Richfield’s linemen were entirely on board.
“I kept checking on them thinking they were gonna wear out, and every time I checked on them, they’re just like, ‘Let’s go,’” Thorson said. “They would get mad at me if I did anything but run up the middle because they’re like, ‘We’re just killing them. They’re not as strong as us.’”
Yardley, one of the better receivers in 3A, came up with one of the most exciting plays of the game, hauling in a fourth-down slant pass down to Manti’s 1-yard line.
It was Wayman’s only pass attempt of the game completed for more than a few yards.
“As much as we enjoy passing the ball, you gotta do what you gotta do,” Yardley said. “We were running down their throat, so we just had to keep going and did what we did best.”
Starkweather got the Templars on the board in the third quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run on a delayed sneak, but it was the second time this season that the prolific thrower has been held without a TD pass in a game this season, throwing two interceptions instead.
Both have been losses.
Richfield pushed the issue in the fourth quarter, tacking on a third TD to make it 21-7 thanks to a pylon dive from Wayman. Getting Manti fully into desperation mode, the Wildcats forced two quick turnovers to seal the deal.
Unable to completely kneel it out on 4th-and-goal with just under a minute remaining, Wayman pitched the ball, received it back and rolled inside the right pylon for the final exclamation point.
Yardley and Fautin have been key parts of every win during Richfield’s streak. Three more wins would put the Wildcats in a six-way tie for 11th-most consecutive wins in state history.
The collision course with Morgan looks like a certainty now.
“This is amazing,” Yardley said. “It’s a total culture shift here. We’re winning games now and it’s fun seeing all the little kids as well just getting amped up and this community coming together.”
The Wildcats are in the driver’s seat to claim a second consecutive region title in the 3A South, taking on Canyon View next week on the road.
Manti will return home for its in-county rivalry matchup with North Sanpete.