- Pleasant Grove Vikings defeated Maple Mountain Golden Eagles 15-6 for their first win.
- Vikings' defense excelled; Jaxon Mortenson and Connor Ybarra made key plays.
- Coach LaPan praised the team's resilience and emphasized continuous improvement.
PLEASANT GROVE — The Vikings got their first win of the season Friday night.
Pleasant Grove defeated Maple Mountain 15-6 to claim their first win after its defense and special teams stepped up.
It was an old-fashioned football game in Pleasant Grove, with both teams searching for their first win of the season — and both sides played scrappy throughout. With both offenses struggling to finish drives, the Vikings made just enough plays to grab the victory, though.
"I thought the guys showed up," Pleasant Grove head coach Jeremy LaPan said. "I don't think anybody surrendered."
The game was a low-scoring affair for the majority of the time, with just 8 points scored in the first 45 minutes of action.
The Vikings got on the board first, settling for a field goal after a stalled drive in the red zone. After a holding call on the ensuing kickoff, Maple Mountain was pinned near their own 10-yard line and got nothing out of it. On the three-and-out series, the Golden Eagles were forced to punt from their own end zone.
Pleasant Grove broke through the protection and blocked the punt out of the back of the end zone for a safety. The Vikings, then, tacked on another field goal on their next possession to increase the lead to 8-0.
The Pleasant Grove defense remained lights out all game long, preventing any threat from the Maple Mountain offense after starting quarterback Hayden Hyatt exited the game with an injury.
Vikings junior defensive lineman Jaxon Mortenson swallowed up run play after run play, and sacked backup quarterback Cole Allred on third down to force a punt and give the ball back to his offense late in the game.
"I feel like the defense balled out tonight," Mortenson said. "We definitely pulled our weight, and I'm super proud of the defense as a whole."
Still leading by eight with just under three minutes to go in the game, LaPan left his offense on the field on a fourth-and-long around their 30-yard line. Quarterback Connor Ybarra scrambled to his left before finding Adam Wright wide open for a touchdown to extend the lead to 15-0.
"Connor is a stud," LaPan said. "He wants the ball in his hands every single time. Whenever the ball is in his hands, I feel extremely confident."
The Golden Eagles didn't go away just yet, finally finding the end zone after Cole Allred hit Kyren Jones for a leaping grab in the end zone. Maple Mountain failed to recover the ensuing onside kick after kicking it out of bounds, and Pleasant Grove kneeled out the clock to secure the win.
"It'd be easy for us to pack it in after going 0-3, which I've never been a part of, but it's awesome to see guys respond and to be bought in," LaPan said.
"I think if you buy into the process, and buy into working hard every single day, then you're able to work hard with your brothers and keep on striving to improve," LaPan added. "I think if you focus on the results too much, your emotions fall into the result category."
The Vikings will be back in action next Friday when they travel to Springville to take on the Red Devils (3-1) while the Golden Eagles will take on Payson (1-3) as they search for their first win of the season.
