Summit football coach Corben Hyatt talks to an official during the game on Friday at Summit High School.

Back in August, once teams were finally able to start live tackling and hitting in practice, Summit’s Connor Conneely dislocated his left elbow so severely that he had to be sedated to pop it back in place. He then missed the first four games of the season.

The junior safety, playing in his second game of the season, made his presence felt with a pair of interceptions and a fumble recovery in the Storm’s 21-6 win over previously undefeated Bend High Friday night.

Not a bad showing from a junior who was thrown into a new position at halftime of Summit’s game on Oct. 4.

“We taught him how to play safety at halftime against Ridgeview,” said Summit coach Corben Hyatt. “And then he gets two interceptions. He’s special.”

In an Intermountain Conference clash between two teams that entered with top-10 OSAA rankings, neither Bend nor Summit could find any sort of rhythm or consistency on offense. That meant it was up to the defenses to come up with game-changing plays.

Conneely came up with three turnovers that resulted in nine points for the Storm.

With the score tied 6-6 in the second quarter and Bend (5-1 overall, 1-1 IMC) with the ball near midfield, Summit junior defensive lineman Kellen Elliott forced a fumble that bounced right into the arms of Conneely, who returned it to inside the Lava Bears’ 5-yard line.

The Storm (3-3, 2-0) then capped off the drive with a quarterback-sneak touchdown from sophomore quarterback Andrew Guthrie to give Summit a 12-6 lead.

Conneely had two interceptions in the second half to help keep the Lava Bears out of the end zone, outside of their opening possession of the game.

“We held them to like 50 yards,” Conneely said. “It was a team effort on defense. The coaches put together a good game plan and we just balled out.”

Friday night the Lava Bears — apart from their opening drive that resulted in a 5-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Kaden Cooper to senior wideout Emmett Colovos — had too many miscues on offense.

Summit scored its first touchdown in the first quarter when the Lava Bears fumbled in the end zone and senior linebacker Sawyer Crocker was there to fall on the ball.

In the third quarter, a misfire on a punt snap gave the Storm prime field position in the red zone. Guthrie then found senior running back Dylan Hughes on a 10-yard touchdown pass to put the Storm up 18-6.

“We believe, like most teams, in a team package,” said Bend coach Kevin Cooper. “Where the defense sets up the offense and the offense sets up the defense. And the offense did not reciprocate this week. We just shot ourselves in the foot and it was hard to recover from that.”

Despite having three fewer wins than the Lava Bears, the Storm had a sense of confidence coming into the game. The confidence was forged by taking their lumps during nonleague games against two of the top Class 5A teams in Silverton and Wilsonville, and also facing Highland, the defending Idaho state champions.

“We are prepared for this kind of stuff,” Hyatt said. “There is a reason why we do this is for games like this.”

Now tied with Mountain View atop the IMC standings, Summit will host Redmond this Friday, while Bend will try to get back to its winning ways when it hosts Caldera.

More Friday night scores

Mountain View 43, Redmond 0

Ridgeview 29, Caldera 26

Crook County 49, Ontario 12

Sisters 48, Creswell 6

Elmira 39, Madras 28

Pleasant Hill 26, La Pine 6

Culver 56, Bonanza 20