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OREM — One inch, maybe less. That is what the contest between the Salem Hills Skyhawks and the Orem Tigers came down to Thursday night.
Salem Hills quarterback Porter Gustin scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown in the 27-26 win with less than two minutes remaining, but it was a play just moments early that set the stage for the late-game heroics.
Clawing their way downfield with time expiring, the Skyhawks found themselves in a do-or-die situation. Down 26-20 and desperate for a score to tie the game, the Skyhawks came out of the huddle and lined up on Orem’s 5-yard line, facing a fourth-and-2 with just over two minutes to play.
Every player on both sides of the ball, all the coaches and even the fans knew what was coming. As expected, Skyhawk quarterback Porter Gustin took the snap under center and the contest of wills was on.
It turns out that when the dust had finally cleared, the call was simply too close to make and the referee called for the chains.
The 3-minute measuring process felt instead like 3 hours and Orem thought it had prevailed, while Salem believed it had gained the needed 2 yards.
Finally, after a careful and close-up look, the referee motioned a Skyhawk first down that couldn’t have been by more than an inch.
Two plays later, Gustin rumbled up the middle on a quarterback keep and dove across the goal line, tying the score at 26. After Trevor Gasser’s PAT making it 27-26, the Skyhawks finally regained the lead with just over a minute left to play in the game.
However, the Skyhawks officially sealed the deal when Salem Hills' stellar sophomore Vili Wolfgramm intercepted a pass with 41 seconds on the clock, stripping the surging Tigers of any hopes for a last second miracle.
“When I picked that last pass I knew the game was finally ours and I was happy," Wolfgramm said.
It was the second interception on the night for the wily Wolfgramm who, with 9:12 left in the fourth quarter, snagged a pick-six that was the game-changer for the Skyhawks. Down 26-14 at the time the play instantly turned the momentum in their favor.
Infused with a renewed vigor that had been noticeably absent until then, the Skyhawks mustered the strength to push harder in the final nine minutes and it made all the difference in a game they could’ve easily lost.
“When I got that pick-six (earlier) in the fourth quarter I knew the game wasn’t over and that we were still in it," Wolfgramm said. "I want to give a shout-out to our defense for stepping it up and not giving up.”
Indeed the Skyhawk defense stepped up in the second half after a disastrous first half where it gave up 26 points to a well-run and disciplined Orem offense that ran rough shod over the Skyhawks.
Skyhawk Coach Joel Higginson told his team, who was down 26-14 at halftime, “That was easily the worst first half of football I have ever been a part of. We’re not blocking, we’re not running crisp routes, we’re dropping balls and we look dead out there. Where is our heart tonight?”
The Skyhawk defense answered that question by holding Orem scoreless in the second half. Gustin led the effort with 12 tackles, two sacks and an interception. Defensive back Trevor Gasser also registered a key interception in the first half.
The Skyhawk offense, known for its high scoring output, struggled throughout the game to build up steam and execute with any fluidity.
Plagued with a spate of holding penalties, dropped balls and a tenacious Tiger blitz, the Skyhawk offense spent most of its time on its heels.
In relentless pursuit of Gustin, who finished with 151 yards rushing, 240 yards passing, and two touchdowns, the ferocious Tiger defense kept him on the run all night. Coming up big for Salem were wide receiver Chad Peterson and tight end Lafe Frandsen, who both made big catches down the stretch for the Skyhawks.
The Tigers, on the other hand, took the field hungry and focused after coming off a big win over Olympus last week. If they were the underdog in this game, somebody forgot to tell them.
Though the Skyhawks drew first blood on a 17-yard strike from Gustin to Frandsen, the unfazed Tigers came roaring back with a score minutes later when Tucker Camp hit Parker Wollaston from 16 yards out to make the score 7-6.
Isaac Parrish upped the score to 14-6 for the Skyhawks when he crashed over the goal line on a short run late in the second quarter. That would be the last score for Salem until Wolfgramm’s pick-six much later in the game.
In the meantime, the second quarter saw the Tigers go on a scoring rampage, racking up 20 unanswered points on a Camp pass to Spencer Miller for a 14-yard score, a 7-yard run into the end zone by Camp and another short run by James Wadsworth for a score.
The break ended with Orem leading 26-14, and it held the lead until the final minute of the game.
Higginson praised his team for not giving up after the huge first half let down and for battling back when it seemed that all was lost.
“Only champions get back up when they get knocked down," he said. "Losers stay down and find excuses not to get back up. You showed me tonight that you have the what it takes to be champions."
The Skyhawks improve to 6-1 and will face Springville at home next week, while Orem (2-5) hosts Corner Canyon.
