OCR Text |
Show ports WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2008 • B l Covering what matters most H OMECOMING ICTORY Namon Bills / Spanish Fork News CONTESTED: ALA's Marcus Monson goes up against two Cedar defenders for a reception. Redmen hand loss to Eagles Jeril Bills STAFF WRITER While in another part of town exuberant fans cheered and celebrated their team's lopsided victory against a longtime rival, fans of the American Leadership Academy Eagles were also watching a lopsided victory — only their team didn't win. The Eagles lost their third game this year, falling to the Cedar City Redmen, 56-8. Cedar City came out strong from the very beginning, scoring two touchdowns in rapid succession. First came the 65-yard pass on their first play of the game, followed by an unplanned two-point conversion. The holder bumbled the snap on what would have been a PAT, and Cedar City's kicker threw the ball to a teammate who ran it in for two. The second TD came a few plays later when a Cedar City player batted down a lateral pass by Eagles' Nate Butterfield, and the Redmen ran it in for a touchdown to take a 15-0 lead. It wasn't long before Cedar City scored again, this time on a 44-yard touchdown pass from Kai Eldridge to Pat Gardner that made it 22-0, Cedar City. After both teams turned the ball over and ALA couldn't convert a first down, the Eagles punted from deep within their own territory and Cedar City's Pat Gardner returned the ball all the way to the ALA 1. The Redmen scored on the next play, but the Eagles blocked the PAT and the score was 28-0. See EAGLES • B2 Chad Vest / Spanish Fork News GOING NOWHERE: Spanish Fork's Uili Ma kai penetrates the line for a sack against Payson. The Don defense manhandled the Lions all evening. come up big against Payson Jace Dalton STAFF WRITER Spanish Fork's first home game of the season was homecoming against long-time rival Payson Friday, Sept. 5. Both teams struggled to hold onto the ball early on, but the Dons were able to capitalize on turnovers when the Lions weren't. The Dons came out strong in the second half to take control of the game, getting their first win 36-0. The Spanish Fork Dons started the game by receiving the kickoff, which they fumbled, giving Payson the ball with great field position. Payson then fumbled the ball, ar.d Spanish Fork quickly jumped on the loose ball only to run a play and then fumble it back to Payson. Payson followed up a missed field goal with a nice little drive down to the Spanish Fork 6-yard-line, where they were stopped on fourth down by the stellar Dons defense that was backed up into their own end zone. That stop by the defense led to an 84-yard drive by the offense, capped off by a 36-yard pass by Breck Lewis to Nate Binks. The Dons then attempted to kick the PAT, but the snap was high. Speedster Trevor Randolph tucked it and ran in for the two-point conversion, to make the score 8-^ in favor of the Dons. With little time remaining in the first quarter, Payson again fumbled the ball to Spanish Fork, but the Dons returned the favor, fumbling to Payson in the second quarter. Payson couldn't score off of the fumble and punted the ball to Spanish Fork, who did score with a 13-yard rushing TD by highlyrecruited tight end Richard Wilson. With a successful PAT the score going into halftime was 15-0 Spanish Fork. The second half was all Dons. Spanish Fork's defense kept the ball in Breck Lewis' hands, and Lewis hooked up with Chris Olsen, Travis Still and Richard Wilson for TDs to make the score 36-0. At the end of the fourth, the Payson offense gained a few yards, and then with a minute left in the game attempt to kick a field goal, but it was blocked by the Dons. Spanish Fork then ran out the clock and won the game 36-0. The Don defense played great. "We came out and executed like we wanted to on defense," said senior linebacker Nate Binks. The offense didn't play too poorly either, as they scored a good amount of points. "This win gives us a lot of confidence closing out preseason play and entering into region play," said senior tight end Richard Wilson. The Dons travel up to Brighton to play Friday, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. SF Half Marathon andSK RUNNING CLUB: The Spanish Fork Running Club hosted their annual half marathon and 5K Saturday, Sept. 6. Alexander Pachev won the half marathon for the men, coming in with a time of 1:13.53. He was followed by Chad Derum and Steven King. Michelle Lowry finished first for the women at 1:22:09. Jeanette Schellenberg was second, with Josse Tobiasson in third. In the men's 5K Tyler Olsen, right, finished first at 19:00.05. Austin Riding came in second, with Yanhui Chow in third. In the women's 5K, Holly Hagerman finished first at 18:51, followed by Chelsea McKell and Susan Chapman. Kate Jarman / Spanish Fork News •'*--•-- |