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SPANISH FORK — Clinging to a one-score lead at halftime in the regular-season finale, Timpview's football team needed a spark — and it probably wasn't going to come on offense.
Matthias Lesa was happy to oblige.
The junior linebacker recovered a fumble on the first play of the third quarter, and the Thunderbirds outscored Maple Mountain 14-0 in the second half to pull away for a 42-20 win that clinched the Region 7 title Friday night.
"This game was totally about adjustments," Timpview coach Donny Atuaia said. "I thought our coaches did a great job in containing athletes, and Maple Mountain has athletes. We knew we could contain them; that was our main focus."
Helaman Casuga threw for 354 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions, and ran for another score for Timpview, and Tei Nacua caught six passes for 105 yards and a touchdown.
Braxton Wilkerson added 96 yards and a score for the Thunderbirds (7-2, 5-0 5A Region 7), who struggled to shake mobile quarterback Banks Jackson and the Golden Eagles (4-5, 2-3) before the break.
But the game turned around on defense, including Lesa's fumble recovery, and a pair of rushing touchdowns by Aisa Galea'i to pull away for good.
"I'm super proud of the defense for helping us," Casuga said. "We struggled as an offense in the second half, and were kind of lackadaisical. But it was a good game."
In the first half, Timpview's defense leaned on the arm of its sophomore quarterback. Casuga threw for 255 yards and three touchdowns before the break, including a 24-yard strike to Nacua to complete the first-half hat trick and a 10-yard run with a minute remaining to push the Thunderbirds up 28-13.
But Jackson led the Golden Eagles the length of the field in less time, finishing off a drive that included a double-pass play into the red zone with a 4-yard strike to Derek Morehouse to pull the hosts within 28-20 at halftime.
Nacua caught six passes for 81 yards and a touchdown in the first half, and Jaron Pula and Wilkerson also scored on the receiving end from Casuga.
"We just had the intensity," Casuga said of his team's fast start. "We knew that we had to keep on scoring, and knowing that Mapleton was right there kept us going and kept the intensity up."
The Golden Eagles were obviously familiar with Timpview being led by first-year head coach Kalin Hall, who was an assistant coach with the Thunderbirds last year.
There were no surprises, just athletes from the Golden Eagles, said Atuaia, whose team opened the season 2-2 after a 57-35 loss to Los Alamitos (California) before going on an unbeaten run through Region 7 with dominant wins against Orem and Springville.
"As a team, we have goals and one of them was just to do well in our region, which is a very tough region," he added. "We love our region, and to have teams of the caliber of Maple Mountain and coach Hall — who was with us last year — it's great to have them and it's great to see how our guys responded."
It's not the ultimate goal, but it's a goal and a step toward it, Casuga added.
"It's obviously a step towards our ultimate goal, which is state," the sophomore signal caller said. "So, obviously, it feels good, but coming Monday, we're going to get right back to work."
The Thunderbirds have a bye in the final week of the regular season, before finding out their seed for the upcoming 5A state playoffs.
Jackson threw for 166 yards and two touchdowns to lead Maple Mountain, which wraps up the regular season Wednesday hosting Mountain Crest.
