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Spanish Fork football’s defense comes up big in win over Provo

By Brian E. Preece - Herald Correspondent | Sep 23, 2022

Brian E. Preece, Herald correspondent

Spanish Fork and Provo players line up to run a play during the Region 9 game in Spanish Fork on Friday, Sept. 23, 2022.

In a hard-fought game where the defenses were dominating, sometimes a little trickeration is in order to break the logjam.

That’s exactly what Spanish Fork did to get a huge 17-14 Homecoming win over Provo.

Inside Provo territory on the Bulldog 41-yard line, Spanish Fork faced a fourth-and-5. That’s when Don head coach Dustin Smith called for a double reverse pass.

Quarterback Will Dart handed it off to Ty Bona, who then handed it off to Teni Worthen. Meanwhile, Gabe Ashworth had snuck behind the Bulldog defenders and the southpaw Worthen delivered the throw.

Provo’s Lanitalo Takitaki caught up with Ashworth and forced him out of bounds at the 3-yard line, but that just delayed the inevitable. Ashworth would get his touchdown two plays later on a flat route as Dart hit him perfectly in stride on a five-yard scoring connection. The successful extra point by Carter Reynolds provided the final margin of victory.

As for the game-changer, it’s a play that Spanish Fork practices each week, but according to Smith he has only called it three times in his three years at Spanish Fork and it has been successful every time. It wasn’t something he really wanted to show the competition this early in the season, but he felt it was the right time.

“I didn’t really want to run it,” Smith said. “You like to hold on to those for later in the season, but we needed it there.”

The game was just a tough rugged game where both defenses made stop after stop, many on fourth down.

It looked like the key play of the contest would be the first play of the final stanza when Provo stopped Spanish Fork on a fourth-and-1 inside Don territory at the 40-yard line. But four downs later, Provo’s attempt to move the chains was stopped one yard short of the yard to gain.

This is where Spanish Fork was able to move the chains twice, featuring some tough running by Joshua Buck and a pass interference penalty, all setting up one of the rare fourth down conversions with Worthen’s pass to Ashworth.

Provo still had two chances to answer, but punted the ball away with just under three minutes remaining.

Spanish Fork converted one first down on its next possession, but then was forced to punt itself giving Provo one last chance to move the ball 80 yards with 45 seconds remaining.

Spanish Fork’s defense made one last stand, preserving the victory where the students then happily stormed the field.

The game had a weird beginning that looked like it might cost Spanish Fork at least a chance to get the game into overtime.

On Provo’s first offensive play, Spanish Fork’s Tubby Reupena intercepted a tipped pass and ran it in for an apparent touchdown. But an inadvertent whistle killed the play, denying Reupena credit for the touchdown but instead gave Spanish Fork the ball on Provo’s 13-yard line.

Two plays later it looked like Buck put the Dons on the board with a 5-yard run, but a holding penalty erased that score. Spanish Fork then had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Reynolds.

That four-point difference between a field goal and touchdown (with a successful PAT) was the difference in the score between the teams for much of the night.

Spanish Fork had a touchdown taken off the board against Salem Hills the week previous but still won the game and Smith felt that dealing with this type of adversity is an important step in his program’s development.

“It’s been two weeks in a row that an inadvertent whistle really hurt us,” Smith said. “But those are games that the last two years ago we would have lost. We weren’t mentally strong enough to stay in those games. Now we’re learning how to win them, and that means our program is getting better.”

After Spanish Fork took the early 3-0 lead, Provo struck back and threatened to take control of the game.

Kyson Condie connected with Takitaki on a 13-yard pass to put the Bulldogs ahead 7-3. Then in the second quarter, Condie ran it in himself from 13 yards to extend Provo’s lead to 14-3.

But that is when Spanish Fork’s defense stiffened and some tough hard running by Buck helped get the Don offense going as the Dons drove it for a late second quarter touchdown to trim Provo’s lead to 14-10. Dart did the scoring honors sneaking it in from the 1-yard line.

Buck enjoyed being back on the field after an ejection late in the Springville game meant he missed Spanish Fork’s win over Salem Hills by the same exact score, 17-14.

“I came in with a little attitude,” Buck said. “This meant a lot to me.”

Buck plays both ways and maybe felt the defense was more the key to the Don victory.

“Defense all day long, but our offense was able to do just enough to get the win,” Buck said. “I’m very proud of everyone.”

Spanish Fork (4-2, 2-1) will visit Wasatch (3-4, 2-1) in a critical Region 9 contest. Meanwhile, Provo (4-3, 1-2) will hope to end a two-game skid when it hosts Salem Hills (2-5, 1-2) for its homecoming.

Scoring by Quarter

Provo 7 7 0 0 -14

Spanish Fork 3 7 0 7 -17

Scoring Summary

SF-Carter Reynolds 24 FG

P-Lanitalo Takitaki 13 pass from Kyson Condie (Moses Vaenuku kick)

P-Condie 13 run (Vaenuku kick)

SF-Will Dart 1 run (Reynolds kick)

SF-Ashworth 5 pass from Dart (Reynolds kic

Brian E. Preece, Herald correspondent

Spanish Fork and Provo players shake hands after the Region 9 game in Spanish Fork on Friday, Sept. 23, 2022.

Brian E. Preece, Herald correspondent

Spanish Fork fans storm the field after the Region 9 game against Provo in Spanish Fork on Friday, Sept. 23, 2022.

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