Utah RB has helmet twisted backwards by face mask penalty, continues to run until drilled by ‘blindside’ hit
Once in a blue moon, a play unfolds that is so bizarre, so unique that it is destined to be a perennial classic on blooper reels everywhere. This is that play.
The ball carrier you see in the clip above is Christian Young, a running back for Bountiful (Ut.) Viewmont High. Young was busy eluding tacklers during his school's crosstown rivalry game against Bountiful (Ut.) High when he had his face mask yanked with serious torque but continued to run. The face mask violation was so forceful that it actually turned his helmet all the way around, leaving him virtually blind with the back of his helmet in front of his face.
At that point, Young should have just fallen to the ground. Instead, the back was persistent, trying to escape toward the left sideline, or perhaps just in the direction he was already going. That didn't last very long, with a Bountiful tackler quickly taking him down with a hard hit, giving a new meaning to the term "being blindsided."
One might ask why the play continued until Young was tackled, but the fact is that the face mask penalty came during a play, and that play by law is not dead until the ball is ruled dead. As Young hadn't hit the ground yet, he was still carrying a live ball, even if he didn't know where the heck he happened to be carrying it. One might fairly call Young brave or gutsy. He's certainly headstrong (all puns intended).
Luckily for Young and his teammates, the game got much better from there, with Viewmont rolling to a 42-0 victory. Of course, regardless of outcome, the Vikings will always have Young's bizarre blooper run, which is sure to remain an all-time classic for years to come.
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