Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PLEASANT GROVE — After surrendering their lead for the first time in the second half following a bizarre sequence of events, the Vikings football team came back to beat the Cavemen 26-23 Friday night.
“Our mindset was we’ve got plenty of time, we’ve done it before, we can do it again,” senior quarterback Jeremiah Evans said.
The Vikings needed only three plays to reach the end zone and take the lead for good on their final drive. Evans threw a quick pass to running back TJ Wind, who pushed his way forward for 8 yards. The clock continued to move, now under 1:30.
Evans stood tall in the pocket and delivered a strike near midfield to Spencer Romney on the next play. Pleasant Grove then went back to a play it had run unsuccessfully earlier in the night.
“We knew they liked to bring pressure off the edge on the weak side,” Viking head coach Les Hamilton said. “We tried to hit it three times earlier in the game; we just didn’t get the right pass.”
Lined up as the lone back in a shotgun set, Wind ran laterally toward the sideline and Evans hit him in the flat. Wind found space, but needed a key block from his teammate lined up wide to spring him down the sideline.
“Malik Overstreet deserves all the credit,” Evans said. “He made the block to win the game.”
Our mindset was we've got plenty of time, we've done it before, we can do it again.
–Jeremiah Evans
Once Overstreet took care of his man, Wind sped down the sideline untouched.
“I saw daylight," Wind said. “I knew they had a corner on the right side who was quick, so I had to sprint. My adrenaline was pumping and all I could see was the daylight and the W, and I got in there and I got it.”
The 52-yard touchdown came in response to a five-play 72-yard drive by American Fork that had given the Cavemen the advantage just under a minute earlier.
Facing a fourth-and-4, down 19-17, American Fork quarterback Tanner Smith found Hayden Johnson for six yards over the middle, but Johnson fumbled and it was scooped up by Pleasant Grove’s John Marsh, who then coughed it up on the return.
Jade Luker snatched the free ball for the Cavemen and ran forward into Viking territory. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty compounded the strenuous turn of events for Pleasant Grove and set Smith and the American Fork offense up on the 25. Smith connected with a wide-open Zach Katoa, who had snuck out of the backfield to make a shoestring catch before making a man miss and diving in for the go-ahead score.
“That was a hard-hitting battle and you’ve got to take your hat off to AF,” Hamilton said. “They battled all night. We were fortunate to get a big play down the stretch.”
Though the Vikings controlled the tempo in the second half, they needed to force five turnovers to secure the win.
“We needed every single one of them,” Hamilton said of the takeaways. “That’s a very good football team. For us to get those — our defense did a great job.”
Romney, who plays both offense and defense, came up with two interceptions off Smith.
“We definitely needed to force them,” Romney said. “I was reading the routes, reading the QB and jumped what I saw.”
Winning the turnover battle 5-1 didn’t allow the Vikings to capture the victory with any ease.
“Holy cow,” Romney said of the conclusion. “That was one of the most emotional games I’ve played in a long time, especially with it being senior night. To come out here and work as hard as you can — we never stopped.”
The triumph was especially sweet for Evans, who transferred from American Fork over the summer. Evans went 17 of 32 for 225 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Wind caught seven of his passes and ended up with 150 total yards and two scores.
“He’s a h--- of a player,” Evans said of Wind. “So what was going through my mind was we just won the game. Then again the defense made a great stop. All I know is we won the game. That’s all I care about.”
Smith, a sophomore, went for more than 300 yards passing for a second straight game in the loss.
Both teams play on the road next week in their final games of the regular season. Pleasant Grove (7-2, 3-2) is at Herriman Oct. 24 and American Fork (5-4, 3-3) heads to Heber City to take on Wasatch Oct. 25. Kyle Spencer is a ksl.com intern. He is studying journalism at Utah Valley University and is the sports editor of the UVU Review. Follow him on twitter @kyledspencer.
