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Summit HS Tigers win home opener against Skyview Wolverines, 34-7

Summit HS players celebrate after beating Skyview 34-7 on Aug. 4 at home.
Phil Lindeman / plindeman@summitdaily.com |

There’s a new cat in town.

For the first time in three seasons, the Summit High School football team won a game at home, and they did so with a vengeance, beating the Skyview Wolverines 34-7 in relentless rain on Friday night.

Not as though the conditions really mattered for the young, tough Summit squad. After a mid-game lightning delay — the first in recent SHS football history — the offense returned with a blowout in mind. Junior quarterback Luke Notaro and senior running back Dekota Rhodes put on a clinic, building off a 14-7 lead at halftime to record a running touchdown each in the second half.



“Ideally, in our minds, we think it’s impossible to cover every facet we want to run,” said Landon Greve, a former Tigers QB making his debut as head coach. “We have the opportunity on the one-on-one, we can do that, but if we want to go with a quick screen or route combination, we can go there. It’s just a dynamic offense.”

The defense laid the groundwork for the show-stopping runs and touchdowns. Seniors Duncan Matlock and Will Flannagan made the cornerstones of a brick wall, regularly tearing through the Wolverines line to drop quarterback Marcus Kemm for a loss on almost every Skyview third down.



“Truth be told, I was pretty ecstatic about our defense. It was the first game so we still have things to work on, but they had the ability to get to the ball. We want to start strong, but we also want to finish strong, keep the pedal to the mettle the entire game. They made it happen.”

Clutch third downs became the key to Summit’s commanding performance. The offensive line protected Notaro on nearly every third down, leading to conversions on four of six as the jam-packed student section led chants, even when the rain started coming down in sheets. Two conversions even came when the Tigers had more than 10 yards to go deep in their territory.

The defense mirrored the O-Line, stopping Skyview on all third downs except for two.

“The times we were stopping behind the line, our defensive tackles were doing what they had to do, our standup ends were doing what they had to do,” Greve said. “Our defensive line is vicious, and they will continuously make big plays.”

Despite solid showings from the Tigers offense and defense, penalties nearly derailed the Tigers’ momentum on several occasions. The Wolverines’ only touchdown came early in the first quarter, when a late hit after the stop led to a 15-yard personal foul penalty on the Summit 30-yard line. Another personal foul deep in Tigers territory late in the second almost put the Wolverines back in the lead, but again, the D-line stepped up.

“There’s a fine line of playing through the whistle and letting your emotions take control,” Greve said. “That’s when you get personal foul penalties, and just like any call, the fact is that things will and won’t roll your way. We want the boys to be emotionally stable enough that when things don’t roll their way, they can come back from that and not let it get to them.”


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