Spanish Fork head coach Dustin Smith did what most coaches do with timeouts in their pocket. He used them to freeze the kicker.

In this case, however, the strategy didn’t work.

Banuelos’ 38-yard field goal against a strong wind was true and Maple Mountain came away with a stirring 27-24 win against rival Spanish Fork on their home turf Friday night.

“I was a little nervous but when they (Spanish Fork) started icing me, that just made me lock in,” said Banuelos.

The field goal wasn’t the final play of the game, but with just one second left on the clock Spanish Fork’s kickoff return was stopped at the 35-yard line and the Maple Mountain students stormed the field to celebrate the wild victory with the Golden Eagle players.

So far in the young season Banuelos has been a steady performer for the Golden Eagles, hitting all four of his field goal attempts (two of which have been 40-yards plus) and going 7-for-7 on his extra points. But what impresses Maple Mountain head coach Kalin Hall about Banuelos is his work ethic.

“I love these kids and I love Fernando,” Hall said. “Not too many kickers are out there with their teammates doing the same work during the summer.”

Maple Mountain had plenty of other heroes and it started off with their quarterback Banks Jackson, who did a lot of his damage on the ground versus the air.

“The passing game struggled a bit tonight, so I had to make some plays,” said the senior signal caller. “And our defense really stepped it up and had a great game.”

Jackson, who had a long touchdown run called back in the previous week, broke off a 74-yard touchdown run against the Dons to give his team a 24-17 lead in the final stanza.

The play was a well-executed read option where his fake to his running back was so good that the Don defensive end tackled him. That allowed Jackson to roll to his left where he planted a foot in the ground and exploded through a seam past all the Spanish Fork defenders.

“Huge blocks by the receivers made that play happen,” Jackson said.

Jackson used his legs earlier in the game for another 10-yard touchdown scamper. This time it was a scramble where he was forced out of the pocket but beat the Don defenders to the pylon for a score.

His teammate Farren Hardy would also add a touchdown run to give Maple Mountain a 14-7 lead in the second quarter but by halftime the Dons had tied the game, 14-14 thanks to Brock Jacobsen’s 3-yard plunge.

But Jackson’s real heroics came in the final moments of the game.

With the score tied at 24-24, Maple Mountain faced a 4th-and-4 on Spanish Fork’s 32-yard line, perhaps a bit out of Banuelos range given the wind conditions. oAgain, Jackson looked to find a receiver but then used his legs to get out of the trouble and get the first down by mere inches.

“I knew (where the marker was) and I just tried to reach out. I thought it was a bad spot actually but it was good enough,” Jackson said.

With that strong breeze going against the Golden Eagles, Maple Mountain needed a few more yards and Jackson hit Jace Wilson on a 7-yard gain to get closer for the field goal attempt.

The clock ran down to six seconds before Maple Mountain called a timeout which set up the winning kick by Banuelos.

Maple Mountain’s defense forced four Don turnovers and were able to convert two of them into points.

With the Dons out in front 7-0, Maple Mountain’s Nathan Wolfgramm strip sack of McKay Smith allowed Matteus Adams to fall on the ball, the first of two fumble recoveries for the Golden Eagle defensive lineman.

“It feels really, really good (to get this win),” said Adams. “Honestly, it was just the other boys flying around giving me the opportunity.”

Spanish Fork also had its shining moments and top-level performances.

Running back Kaden Vest showed his dominance early as Spanish Fork ripped off a 67-yard drive with Vest running the pigskin five times for 45 yards with a 1-yard dive to finish things off.

Ryan Olsen was a primary target for Smith and the Spanish Fork receiver made the play-of-the-game, at least for Don fans, when he hauled in a 35-yard catch when the Dons faced a fourth down with ten yards to go. This set up Jacobson’s second score which made the score 24-23 with two minutes remaining in the game.

Benji Vargas hit the extra point and was also roughed by the Maple Mountain defenders. Spanish Fork head coach Dustin Smith decided to not take the point off the board leaving the score tied 24-24.

After the penalty was accepted on the kickoff, the Dons again took the conservative approach and had Vargas kick the ball through the end zone instead of trying an onside kick or a pooch kick that they used successfully to start the second half. It was then that Maple Mountain drove the ball 59 yards to set up the winning field goal.

Maple Mountain (2-0) will take to the road to play Salem Hills (1-1) while Spanish Fork (0-2) will visit Orem (1-1). Both games will start at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

Score by Quarter:

SF 7 7 3 7 -24

MM 7 7 3 10 -27

Scoring Summary:

SF-Kaden Vest 1 run (Benji Vargas kick)

MM-Banks Jackson 10 run (Fernando Banuelos kick)

MM-Farren Hardy 1 run (Banuelos kick)

SF-Brock Jacobson 3 run (Vargas kick)

SF-Vargas 22 FG

MM-Banuelos 40 FG

MM-Jackson 74 run (Banuelos kick)

SF-Jacobson 3 run (Vargas kick)

MM-Banuelos 38 FG