High school football: Vikings score early, often to dispatch Spanish Fork
The Vikings jumped on the Dons early and led 42-8 by halftime, and while Spanish Fork showed its resiliency in the second half, ultimately the Pleasant Grove lead was too much to overcome.
"I just felt good about every one of those scores (in the first half), and it was a good thing we had them for the second half because we needed every one of them to win the ball game," Pleasant Grove coach Dale Sampson said.
The Vikings took their opening possession 62 yards before running back Joey Owens found the end zone on a 3-yard run to go up 7-0. After forcing the Dons to punt on their next possession, Pleasant Grove capitalized on the great field possession to score on a 5-yard scramble by quarterback Dallas Lloyd.
Spanish Fork scored its only touchdown of the first half in the second quarter when quarterback Breck Lewis found some daylight on a 25-yard touchdown run of his own. After a two-point conversion, the score was 14-8.
The Vikings responded with an impressive 79-yard drive of their own and extended the lead when Lloyd found Marshall Nielson open on a post pattern for a 14-yard touchdown pass. After forcing Spanish Fork to punt on the ensuing drive, it only took one play to extend the lead even more. LeSean Wilcox took the ball on a sweep to the outside and galloped down the right sideline for the 49-yard touchdown run.
"We were pretty fortunate because they had a couple turnovers and we kept putting drives in," Sampson said. "Things were going our way in that first half; it was probably the best half we have had."
Spanish Fork came out firing in the second half, throwing two quick touchdown passes and pulling within 42-21. The touchdown receptions were from 28 and 35 yards, and both were beautifully thrown balls from Lewis to Richard Wilson.
However, Wilcox killed the Dons' momentum when he took the ball off-tackle and was untouched on his way to a 75-yard touchdown run. Spanish Fork returned the favor, as Lewis found Chase Loftin for another touchdown only minutes later. But after a generous kickoff return, Wilcox scored again, this time from 40 yards on another toss sweep.
Spanish Fork scored once more in the fourth, but it was too little, too late.
"We knew they were going to make their plays," Sampson said. "We had the picks in the first half that helped us. But they run a pretty good offense, and we probably didn't do the best job of making plays in the second half."
Wilcox led Pleasant Grove with 11 carries for 203 yards and four touchdowns, while Owens had 15 carries for 117 yards and two touchdowns of his own.
In the losing effort, Lewis led Spanish Fork by throwing for 303 yards and rushing for another 159.
E-mail: ethomas@desnews.com
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