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Show Thursday, September 6, 2007 OREM TIMES Page 11 Owlz get hot; clinch playoff spot jORTH COUNTY With orijy a handful of games remaining in the ' regular season, the Owlz are starting to step up their play as they prepare for the play-. play-. off s. With the help with some timely rain, Orem won three straight games and four out of five going into their season-closing three-game series against Ogden. Even more important than the wins was the fact that they came against an Idaho Falls team they will face in the first round of the Pioneer League playoffs which begin on Saturday Satur-day night in Orem. Owlz 5, Chukars 2: At Orem, the Owlz got the win they needed to wrap up .the wild card spot in the Pioneer League South Division after beating the Idaho Falls Chu Brothers Continued from Page 9 dreamland right now." The ironic situation for the Gronkowski's started months ago when Gordie found out that he would be in town with the Owlz while the Wildcats visited Provo. "It's pretty neat that my brother's first college game was on the same street I play on," Gordie, who watched the first half of the football game, said. "We'd been looking forward to this for a while; I hadn't seen him in six months. It was a great experience." Spending time away from home and family is just part of life for aspiring athletes, something the Gronkows-kis Gronkows-kis know all about. Gordon, Gor-don, who played football at Syracuse, is, as he puts it, 4-for-4 in his kids get- Now r accepting new students If 1 " Photo by Scott Hancock SELECT FURNITURE ON SALE! CUSTOM ORDERS i -1 MM tint hniturt b Amis jot k Hone 2? 3 kars 5-2 in a rain-shortened 6-inning 6-inning game on Tuesday night in Orem. Orem got all the runs it needed need-ed in the bottom of the second when they scored five runs. Owlz 6, Chukars 5: At Orem, the visiting Idaho Falls Chukars Chu-kars took an aggressive approach ap-proach in their contest against the Orem Owlz at Brent Brown Ballpark and it cost them time after time. In the end, it cost them the game, thanks to a savvy Owlz coaching move that paid off to give the home team the big 6-5 win on Monday night. With the score tied at five with a runner on second and one out in the bottom of the eighth, Orem manager Tom Kotchman turned to pinch hitter Hector Estrella who hit an RBI triple to seal the win. ting college scholarships. In addition to Gordie and Rob's fledgling baseball and football careers, another brother is playing football' at the University of Maryland Mary-land while yet another is a multi-sport athlete (baseball and football of course) at Arizona. Three of the boys earned football scholarships, while , Gordie played baseball at Jacksonville University before be-fore signing with the Angels. Although Gordie might more closely resemble a football player than a baseball player, he wasn't pressured to play football and never did in high school. "I never pushed my kids," Gordon said. "I said, 'I'll help you and if you don't want it I won't make you do it.' " Although the weekend worked out well for the Gronkowski s, Gordon, who watched about a week's worth congratulations to Melissa Browne forachifving her non-sporting certification! She's well on her way to her masters! For more Information Please call us, come by, or visit our website. 801-492-7746 61 West Main Street, American Fork www.precfouspetparadfseemployee.com Jazz, Ballet, Tap, Tumbling, Hip Hop, ' Technique, TapBallet combo, and Tiny Tots classes are available. Auditions for Nutcracker September 4th & 6th Contact Information:: (801)785-5883 90 South Main Street, Pleasant Grove 7 r I U if r 1 1 11 iVpuf i i Owlz 9, Raptors 3: At Orem, the Orem Owlz bats came out of a slumber in a rain shortened five inning win over the Chukars Chu-kars Sunday afternoon at Brent Brown Ballpark. Center fielder Deandre Miller Mill-er cracked his first homer of the year leading off the first to put the Owlz up 1-0. That was a harbinger of things to come as the Owlz plated two in the second, five in the third and one in the fourth. I Raptors 3, Owlz 1: At Orem, Ogden jumped out to a 3-0 lead and the Orem Owlz could never recover, falling to the Raptors in Pioneer League action on Saturday night. The Raptors scored one in the second inning, then scored two more runs in the top of the fourth on a Parker Dalton double. of Owlz games during his trip, wasn't sure that the plane ticket he bought over a month ago would still be as useful as he initially hoped. "I booked my ticket ahead of time and was worried that Gordie would be moved up and I'd be here by myself (until the Arizona football team showed up)," Gordon said. Considering the success that Gordie has had for the Owlz this season, Gordon's concern about the potential call up was legitimate. Gordie is currently one of the top hitters in the Pioneer League with a .339 batting average and a .525 slugging percentage. In addition to Gordie's success, suc-cess, Rob has seen plenty of his own. Rated the No. 2 tight end in the country coming'' com-ing'' oufof high school, Rob earned the starting tight end job at Arizona during fall camp and saw significant L&V m h- "J .8 m im I Owlz 5, Raptors 3: At Orem, the Owlz scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth to break a 3-3 tie and go on to beat the Ogden Raptors on Friday Fri-day in Pioneer League action. The Owls trailed 3-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, in-ning, but Jeremy Moore singled with two aboard, scoring Efren Navarro to tie the score at 3-3. I Raptors 5, Owlz 3: At Orem, comeback kids they are not. Ogden entered Thursday night's game against Orem with a record of 0-34 when trailing after seven innings. So what are the odds Ogden would score three runs in the ninth inning and then beat the Orem Owlz in extra innings? However, Ogden did just that as they stunned Orem with three runs in the top of the ninth en route to a 5-3 win in 1 1 innings. playing time against the Cougars, finishing with one catch for 17 yards. "For my first game ever I thought I did well," Rob said. "It was pretty sweet, I wish I'd have been able to have caught some of his games while we were here but that didn't work out. It was nice to have my brother here to cheer me on in my first game." Both Gronkowski's were in Utah County fulfilling lifelong dreams. "It's def. a dream for him to make it to the majors and I'm hoping he does," Rob said. "My dream has been to play college football and here I am." Judging by the youth of all the family members, there are many more dreams that will be fulfilled along the way. The success that has been enjoyed thus far seems to be just the tip of the iceberg for the talented tal-ented Gronkowski clan. T ' LOT PLATD 56 ft - - hew hucklt mi! Piriurt for illunralii jmrpow 1 r u k 41 I . :' I . h$7 if .V" V A - t M M ' - 1 - J I Orem football picks up first win of the year; soccer on top of Region 7 Darnell Dickson NORTH COUNTY After scoring just eight points in the first eight quarters quar-ters of 2007, the Orem Tigers needed a fast start against Uintah Uin-tah on Friday. Did it happen? Let's just say if the Orem football team was on the Bonneville Salt Flats, it would have set a land-speed record. Orem (1-2) scored on four of its eight offensive plays and added a defensive touchdown in a 35-point first quarter onslaught, finally settling for a 5(5-15 rout of overmatched Uintah. "We could feel it coming," said Orem running back Tucker Lamb, who rushed for 152 yards and scored two touchdowns. "We had a feeling feel-ing something big was going to happen. We're happy it did tonight." Lamb got things started on the first offensive play of the game. He took a swing pass from Josh Hamblin, split two defenders and raced 68 yards for a touchdown. Three minutes later, Alek Cusick blasted up the middle for a 14-0 Orem lead, and Lamb set up the next Tiger score with an interception. Hamblin tossed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Landon Lloyd on the next play for a 21-0 Orem advantage. ad-vantage. "Today we didn't have any turnovers or the kinds of things that hurt us the first two weeks," Orem head coach Bob Steele said. "We always had a good crew of kids. They got some confidence today and it snowballed." Orem finished with 380 total yards 303 in the first half and caused four Uintah turnovers. Hamblin completed IMMMIIiMMIllM 6-15 acre recreational estates underground utilities electric, phone state-of-the-art water system restrictive covenants architectural review committee well-maintained roads year-round access call 801 368 8272 soldiersummit.com i l milt 48'montli ltattwiO? MwtangtmintSljOO dnn one more pass in the second half to go 4-of4 for 15(5 yards and three touchdowns. Dallas Smuin was 2()-of-41 for 199 yards and a touchdown wit h two interceptions for Uintah (1-2). SOCCER I Aug. 30 - Orem downs Springvile: Orem jumped on Springville early in Thursday's clash of Region 7's top teams, but it took a late goal by Tiger forward Kaitlyn Thomas to put away the persistent Red IX'vil squad 2-1. Orem scored early in the first half, but Springville picked up a goal early in the second half to tie the game. As the momentum shifted, ( )rem began to work the ball forward a little more aggressively to make up for the defensive error. "We made some adjustments right after that and started to use our attack method better," said Orem coach Fd Ixmdcr. "We have some girls who know how to play the ball and get the attack going." Seven minutes after . Springville Spring-ville t ied t he score at Wy ? Thomas crossed the haft jih and bent it back over the Red l)evil keeper for the final score. I Orem 1, Provo 1: At Provo, in soccer, you aren't rewarded for possessing the ball for the vast majority of the game or for the number of shots you direct toward to-ward the opponents' goal. If such were the case Orem would have won resoundingly against Provo on Tuesday instead in-stead of being forced to settle for a 1-1 tie in lYovo. Although the Tigers won almost al-most every statistical category, the only place that mattered showed the two teams as Equals. Kaitlyn Thomas sCoreitthe goal for Orem.' asm MOUNTAIN ESTATES David Cunningham Bankers Realty O IIINNA film in, lie fi TO.fKK) mMytU l.rvfcuCr ' 2M00 1 : r,. Xs h 1400 S. SANDHILL' RD:v8gg& 241 S. 100 W. SpringviDe 4898742 Hours: Mon-SatlW 'Est 1986 try Copy 1 |