Jacobson’s big night leads Spanish Fork football to win over Salem Hills in 4A second round
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- Spanish Fork and Salem Hills players prepare for a play during the 4A second round game in Spanish Fork on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
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- Spanish Fork and Salem Hills players and coaches talk after the 4A second round game in Spanish Fork on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
For Spanish Fork’s 56-35 4A second round win over Salem Hills Friday night, it was the usual suspects on offense that did the damage in wide receiver Brock Jacobson, running back Kaden Vest and quarterback McKay Smith.
Jacobson also carries the ball a good amount occasionally in the Wildcat formation and he crossed the goal line three times, all on the ground. The senior staked his team out a 14-0 lead it would never relinquish.
But despite all his versatility on offense, Jacobson remarked on how he also enjoys playing defense.
“Offense is pretty fun but when you get to come up and hit someone, it’s fun as well,” Jacobson said.
After Jacobson’s scoring runs of 11 and 19 yards, Salem Hills struck back as Jedi Nelson hooked up with Guss Johnson on a 5-yard score. But then Don quarterback McKay Smith ran it from one yard away to give Spanish Fork a 21-7 lead at half after the third of eight extra points by Breakir Killpack.
“The first half wasn’t great,” Smith said. “We could have done some things better. Our pass protection was great. Tonight, our run game could have been a bit better in the beginning. But we’re in a pretty good spot right now and we’ll keep rolling.”
Salem Hills looked like they might make a game of it when Traygen Fusselman went to the house on a 99-yard kickoff return to open the second half that trimmed the Don lead to 21-14.
But Spanish Fork’s offense then scored 21 straight points as Nixon Warren hauled in an 8-yard pass from Smith while Kaden Vest and Jacobson broke off long scoring runs of 67 and 63 yards respectively to give Spanish Fork a 42-14 lead going into the final stanza.
Vest leads the state in rushing with 1,922 yards and 9.9 yards per carry, while he is tied in total touchdowns scored with Provo’s Ollie McKay with 25 trips over the goal line.
“It’s so much fun, I love it,” Vest said of playing in this high-octane Spanish Fork offense. “It’s been a blast this year.”
Vest feels that Spanish Fork’s ability to both run and pass complement each other well and enhances his success.
“If we can throw it, we can run it,” Vest said. “If we can run it, we can throw it. It opens either one up for us.”
Vest would score another touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 23-yard scamper while Smith would close out the Don scoring with a 5-yard connection with Jacob Johnson.
Salem Hills had its good moments as Jedi Nelson had four touchdown passes. Grayson Wilson had two of those, one of which was a spectacular catch in the back corner of the end zone. But his teammate Peyton Higginson arguably one-upped him, dragging his toe in the same back corner.
But in the end, Salem Hills just couldn’t keep up with Spanish Fork scoring barrage.
When the teams did meet earlier in the year, it was a much lower-scoring contest with Spanish Fork winning 30-2. Salem Hills’ defensive schemes did worry Don head coach Dustin Smith.
“I was concerned,” the Don head coach said. “Salem (Hills) has a defense that always gives us some trouble. They’re the only team we haven’t seen to score as much on. Coach (Derek) Campbell is a very good defensive coordinator, so we had to have a lot of things ready for them. But our boys came out and executed what our game plan was and obviously it worked.”
Spanish Fork (9-2), as the No. 4 seed, earned another home playoff game and the Dons will host No. 5 Park City (10-1) this upcoming Friday. The Miners shut out No. 21 seed Bear River, 33-0.
“One of our goals was that we wanted to be home (through the quarterfinals) in the playoffs,” Dustin Smith said. “We love our field. We play well here. We love our community and we get a good turnout.”
As a player, Jacobson agreed fully with his head coach about having one more home game.
“That’s the whole reason we wanted to be in the top four because we get that winning advantage,” Jacobson said. “We play really good at home.”
With the loss Salem Hills finished its season with a 6-5 mark.
Score by Quarter
Salem Hills 0 7 7 21 – 35
Spanish Fork 7 14 21 14 – 56
SF-Brock Jacobson 11 run (Breakir Killpack kick)
SF-Jacobson 19 run (Killpack kick)
SH-Guss Johnson 5 pass from Jedi Nelson (Porter Dinkins kick)
SF-McKay Smith 1 run (Killpack kick)
SH-Treygan Fusselman 99 kickoff return (Dinkins kick)
SF-Nixon Warren 8 pass from McKay Smith (Killpack kick)
SF-Kaden Vest 67 run (Killpack kick)
SF-Jacobson 63 run (Killpack kick)
SH-Grayson Wilson 12 pass from Nelson (Dinkins kick)
SF-Vest 23 run (Killpack kick)
SH-Peyton Higginson 15 pass from Nelson (Dinkins kick)
SF-Jacob Johnson 5 pass from Smith (Killpack kick)
SH-Wilson 70 pass from Nelson (Dinkins kick)
