Everyone wishes they could always have that snappy comeback at the exact moment that it's needed. All too often, the best retorts don't come until long after they would do any good.

Both times the Bulldogs scored touchdowns, the Vikings responded with touchdowns of their own to extinguish the momentum of Provo and rolled to the 49-13 victory.

Things didn't start well for the visitors as the Bulldogs recovered an early Pleasant Grove fumble and turned it into a 24-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Anthony Miles from junior quarterback Matt Griner to give Provo the early 7-0 lead.

"I don't know if we came out ready to play," Viking head coach Dale Sampson said. "But you have to take your hat off to Provo. I don't know if anyone improved as much as they did from last week to this week. They gave us a handful early tonight."

The answer came on a crucial play that turned the tide in favor of Pleasant Grove. Facing a fouth-and-3 from the Provo 24-yard line, Sampson decided to go for it.

"We were down seven points and I thought about the kick, but I decided we needed to build confidence," he said. "Last week we didn't make those plays in the red zone so I went to the guys and said, 'hey, we've got to have a first down.'"

The call was a short pass from Viking junior quarterback Dallas Lloyd to senior tight end Sefa Tanoai. One stiff arm was all Tanoai needed to spring himself into the clear and he walked in from 24 yards out to tie things up.

"I thought it was a momentum-changer and it gave us the confidence that we needed," Sampson said.

From that point on, Pleasant Grove senior running back LeSean Wilcox took over the game.

On the next Viking possession, he took the ball on a sweep around the left side and after following his blocks for 10 yards, he saw a seam and accelerated. 79 yards later he crossed the goal line to give the visitors the lead.

"It felt really good to see some open green," Wilcox said. "My guys had some really nice blocks that set me up, so my thanks goes out to them."

It took the senior less than two minutes to get on the board again, bursting in from 14 yards out after Pleasant Grove had recovered a Provo fumble.

A 53-yard scoring strike from Lloyd to junior wide receiver D.J. Doman put the Vikings up 28-7 at the break, but Bulldog head coach Saia Pope didn't think his team was playing that poorly.

"We were in the ball game early and the kids had some confidence," he said. "Pleasant Grove is a really good team but I thought we were hanging in there. We just gave up a few big plays."

Provo came out of the locker room fired up and marched down the field on an eight-play drive capped by junior running back Kyler Hamilton's 38-yard run that narrowed the gap to a couple of scores.

Any hope of a Bulldog comeback got killed on the ensuing play as Pleasant Grove junior running back Joey Owens took the kickoff at the 5-yard line, broke a couple of tackles and sprinted all the way to the end zone.

"That swing got us back on our feet after they scored," Sampson said. "We were able to go out and execute after that."

The Vikings added two more touchdowns to complete the scoring including a 59-yard run by Wilcox off a fake punt.

"That was probably my favorite because I didn't think I was going to make it," he said. "I was about to kick it but I saw my blocker come up and decided to go for it."

While the Bulldogs didn't manage to keep it close, Pope said he likes the direction his team is going.

"We gave it everything we had and now we'll learn from this preseason game," he said. "We'll go back to work this week and keep getting ready for region."

The Vikings will go for their second win when they host Riverton on Sept. 5, while Provo heads to Lehi the same evening. Both games will kick off at 7 p.m.

• Jared Lloyd can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Pleasant Grove 7 21 7 14 -- 49

Provo 7 0 6 0 -- 13

Pr -- Anthony Miles 26 pass from Matt Griner (Trent Andrus kick)

PG -- Sefa Tanoai 24 pass from Dallas Lloyd (Josue Meza kick)

PG -- LeSean Wilcox 79 run (Meza kick)

PG -- Wilcox 14 run (Meza kick)

PG -- D.J. Doman 53 pass from Lloyd (Meza kick)

PR -- Kyler Hamilton 38 run (run failed)

PG -- Joey Owens 95 kickoff return (Meza kick)

PG -- Wilcox 56 run (Meza kick)

PG -- Kaden Newbold 57 pass from Dalton Brady (Meza kick)