HIGHLAND — Lone Peak head coach Bart Brockbank believes his team has a certain “aura.”

He explains it as a collective sense of confidence that his players have, believing that they can win any match they play, no matter the challenge.

Even if the opponent is Corner Canyon.

On Friday night, Lone Peak lived up to its own confidence. Against a nationally ranked Chargers program that defeated IMG Academy eight days ago, it was the Knights’ turn to pull out a thrilling victory, beating Corner Canyon 28-21.

“They are not arrogant about not working, but they are audacious enough to think they can beat anyone in the country,” Brockbank said.

The Knights’ defense wasn’t intimidated by Corner Canyon’s offense, which outscored IMG Academy last week and scored 70 points against American Fork in Week 1.

Lone Peak’s defense handled the pressure on quarterback Helamen Casuga and made numerous key plays throughout the night, including a first-possession interception and four turnovers on downs.

Meanwhile, Lone Peak’s offense was fired up early, relying on the smooth play-action offense of quarterback Kepa Niumeitolu, who scored four touchdowns in the first half to take a 28-7 halftime lead.

“We’re not going to let them just come in here and walk all over us because this is Corner Canyon,” said senior captain Landan Goff.

“Even though they beat a top team like IMG, we told ourselves that they are just another team,” added defender Bott Mulitalo. “They bleed like we bleed. So we came out, we started strong and we hit them in the face.”

The stunning result did not come without drama, however, as the Chargers, who were without star receiver Jerome Myles (who was injured on the second play of the game and later returned to the sideline on crutches), came back with a vengeance.

The Chargers’ defense shut out Lone Peak in the second half, while Casuga scored twice to close the gap to one possession.

Trailing 28-21, Corner Canyon had the ball on the Knights’ 36-yard line with 30 seconds left and a real chance to spoil the hosts’ victory celebration. But on a night of great plays from the Knights’ defense, they managed to score one more.

Lone Peak forced consecutive Corner Canyon incompletions on throws in the end zone, then capitalized on a holding call. With five seconds left, Casuga’s last-ditch throw to the end zone never came as Cooper Stosich came around the right sideline for the sack, and the Lone Peak students rushed the court in panic.

“It was huge,” Brockband said. “We knew we had to get pressure on them, because they had to get those receivers deep. Danny (Morton) called a great play to get the twist in, (Stosich) twisted right in and tackled him.”

Ultimately, the victory was due to the cushion Lone Peak provided itself, which came from a near-perfect first half on both sides of the ball. It started with an interception by Wes Valgardson on the second play of the game, followed by a 23-yard touchdown run from Niumeitolu.

Although Corner Canyon responded with a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, then got the ball back on a fumble by Niumeitolu, the momentum quickly shifted back to the Knights, who managed to stop the ball on third down and force a punt.

Moments later, Lone Peak was in the end zone on a 58-yard touchdown pass from Niumeitolu to Bear Tenney. The rest of the half saw more of the same, with consecutive Chargers turnovers on downs, each followed by touchdown runs by Niumeitolu.

“We just haven’t gotten our kids ready to play,” Corner Canyon coach Eric Kjar said. “We’ve talked about it, but we clearly haven’t done enough to get them ready to play; and Lone Peak is a good team, they’ve got a really good defense and they’re well-coached.”

Although the Chargers found their stride in the second half, Kjar admitted the loss of Myles early in the game had an impact on the team.

“It’s definitely tough,” Kjar said of Myles’ injury. “He’s a great kid, a great player. We lost Bryton (Brady), our running back who’s a great kid, a great player last week. … You just have to find a way to work through it, and that’s part of football.”