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Show orts Guardian of Your Community News A12 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 Dons bulldoze Box Elder Bees Namon Bills EDITOR The Spanish Fork Dons did homecoming right Friday, Sept. 11, as sophomore quarterback Hayden Nielsen passed for 260 yards and six touchdowns on the way to a 48-14 rout of Box Elder. The Dons posted 192 yards on the ground, including one rushing touchdown. The rushing TD came at the hands of junior running back PJ Inoke, who, on the second play of the game, carried the ball 79 yards to put the Dons on the Scoreboard early. 'That was a big boost for the team/' said Nielsen. Spanish Fork'sdefense, led by Michael Stone, Uili Makai and Richie Kunsman, shut down the Box Elder offense in the first half, keeping the ball in the hands of Nielsen and company, who wasted no time returning to the endzone. In the first quarter, Nielsen found Travis Still for a 23-yard TD reception, and Chase Loftin for a 28-yard TD catch. The offensive fireworks continued in the second as Nielsen connected with Still for two more scores and then found Jordunn Martinson for thefinalTD of the half, going into the locker room up 41-0. In the second half Box Elder got on the board with an 84-yard run from Sean Smith in the third. They were able to score again on a three-yard run from Kyle King in the fourth, but it was too little too late for the Bees. Also in the fourth, Hayden Nielsen connected with PJ Inoke on a screen pass. Inoke broke a tackle and ran 36 yards for his second score of the night, leaving the final at 48-14. Spanish Fork kicker Chet Harmer was 6-7 on extra point attempts. Nielsen said he feels like the Dons are coming together as a team. "Everything's starting to mesh with the offense and defense. When we both have big games, we end up beating teams," he said. Nielsen was also quick to give credit to his offensive line: Isaac Asiata, JR Brandon, Austin Stevenson, Matt Graham and Blake Denning. Coach Christensen said that overall he was pleased with the efforts on both sides of the ball. "We had a couple of fumbles — we need to work on that — but offensively we did a pretty good job; it was pretty balanced and we took what the defense gave us." The Dons begin region play this Friday as they Shane Marshall / The Sentinel travel to Vernal to take on Uintah. MOMENTUM: Tim Moala runs the ball for Spanish Fork. Moala was the Dons' #2 rusher, with five carries for 48 yards. Eagles crash Beaver homecoming Riley Lewis STAFF WRITER The American Leadership Academy Eagles got back on track this week with a 21-14 victory over Beaver. The Eagles are now 2-2 on the season and set a host of records andfirstsfor school history, including their first victory over an undefeated team and thenfirst win over a team ranked in the top five of their classification. The win was a big step in the right direction for the Eagles. ALA took the opening kickoff and on their opening drive went the length of the field. The drive ended in a touchdown with a fiveyard pass to Riley Lewis. The Eagles stopped the Beavers on their first possession, but not before they took the ball deep into the red zone. On their next possession, the Eagles drove down the field for another five-yard score, this time to Cole Fulton. That made the score 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter the Eagles only had one possession, which they took down to the three. Yet penalties and a fumbled snap pushed them back to the 40, where they were forced to punt. Beaver scored on a goalline run, making the score 14—7 for the Eagles going into halftime. The third quarter was a dogfight. The Eagles con- minimi Kayla Neves / The Sentinel RETURN MAN: Nate Jellum takes a kickoff return for the Skyhawks. Christian Thompson / The Sentinel TWO STEPS AHEAD: Above, ALA's Eric Howard runs the ball. The Eagles stayed two steps ahead of Beaver to get the road win. tinued to move the ball on offense, yet they failed to score again. Beaver capitalized and scored on a 27-yard pass. That tied the score at 14-14 going into the fourth quarter. The Eagles bore down defensively in the fourth. The Beavers had the ball in the red zone twice in the final minutes, but both times the Eagles forced fumbles and kept them out of the end zone. Those fumbles were two of the five Beaver turnovers. The play that sealed the victory for the Eagles was a 44-yard scamper up the sideline by Hunter Morley. That score made it 21-14 and the Eagles won as time expired. Since the game was played on Sept. 11, before the game Coach Lewis handed out red wristbands to every player with a name written on it. They were names of those who died on that day. He asked the players to play hard for that person and to remember they were Americans. Throughout the game you could hear Eagle players yelling, "Remember who you're playing for." It was an interesting motivational tool. A key contributor at receiver, Marcus Monsen, thought the wristbands, the offense, and the passing game were good. He was pleased with the win. "The wristband idea was See EAGLES • A9 Deja vu for Salem Hills in tough loss Marshall Dunn STAFF WRITER Two weeks after suffering a heart-breaking loss at Desert Hills in the final minute of the game, tragedy struck the Skyhawks again in a 20-19 overtime loss on the road to the highly-rated Morgan Trojans. Morgan easily beat the Skyhawks in the playoffs last year, and this matchup was thought to go much the same way, as the Trojans boast a strong team this year. Salem, on the other hand, is an entirely different team from last year, and look as though they can play with anyone. This different mindset was evident on the field See SALEM * A9 |