North Sanpete takes Timpanogas in second half with 36-28 win
By Matt Harris
Staff writer
9-1-2016
MOUNT PLEASANT—The North Sanpete Hawks varsity football team came away with their first win on Friday, beating the Timpanogos Timberwolves in a back-and-forth game, 36-28.
The Hawks were down at halftime, but scored 17 straight points to blow it open for North Sanpete. The win is North Sanpete Head Coach Rhett Bird’s first victory as head coach of the team.
“It doesn’t mean anything to me,” Bird said. “It means everything to the community. I’m just glad that our boys fought hard and they gave everything they had out there.”
Timpanogos put themselves on the board first when Haydn Sandstrom broke away from coverage on a third-and-long play for a 56-yard touchdown, to put the Wolves up 7-0.
Play was shortly thereafter delayed for 30 minutes due to lightning. Once the skies cleared, North Sanpete responded.
The Hawks took advantage of lack of adjustments by the Timberwolves so junior Shawn Taylor could score on a 55-yard touchdown run.
By the second quarter, the Hawk defense was hardly letting Timpanogos get past the line of scrimmage.
“More than anything, I think our kids are just getting used to our schemes,” Defensive Coordinator Dave Peck said. “We just need to continue to compete hard and go out and battle.”
The Hawks took the lead on another touchdown run in the second quarter by senior running back Waylon Atkinson. Timpanogos evened the score with a touchdown pass from Casey Hamilton to Gabe Sweeten.
The Hawks took the upper hand again from a big touchdown pass for 81 yards from junior quarterback Spencer Steadman.
Before halftime, Timpanogos scored one more time on a third touchdown pass from Timberwolves quarterback Casey Hamilton to give Timpanogos a halftime lead, 20-19.
Both sides were deadlocked on the third quarter, as both defenses came to play right out of halftime. The Hawks would get the lead back during the third quarter with a 22-yard field goal made by kicker Kelton Christensen to put them up 22-20.
The Hawks would run away with it in the fourth. Steadman got his first touchdown pass of the night with a 17-yarder to senior Jaxon Jensen. Later on, deep in Timpanogos territory, senior Haden Poulsen, with the help of some good blocking, bulldozed through the Wolves defense for a 10-yard touchdown run to put the Hawks up 36-20.
Timpanogos tried to get the game back, scoring late in the fourth with another touchdown pass to Sweeten from Hamilton, his fourth of the night, along with a successful two-point conversion.
After getting possession back with less than a minute to go, Hamilton threw the only interception of the night to seal the game and give the Hawks their first victory of the season.
“We told the boys to keep fighting,” Bird said. “We didn’t get away from what we planned for. We stuck the trail, and sometimes we bit the bullet, but overall, we did a really good job.”
The North Sanpete Hawks are beginning region play soon, but first they have a nonregion away game against the Maple Mountain Golden Eagles tomorrow. The Golden Eagles, who are from Spanish Fork, were recently beaten by Corner Canyon, 37-0, last week.
