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Show Braves flatten Emery Co. 17 yards, Godfrey hauled in another Beck aerial at the one, and Jones dove in again to make it 14-0 with 3:50 left in the first quarter. Emery never recovered. BountifuTs third drive also ended up as points on the board. Starting at their own 19, the Braves moved the ball to Emery's 13, from where Haslam booted a 31 -yard field goal to make it 17-0. The key plays on this drive included a 25 yard com pletion from Beck to Aaron Roderick, a nine-yard gain by Jake Murdock, and a seven-yard pass to Roderick. Emery's ensuing drive also ended up as a three-downs-and-out series. The Braves moved into field goal range again just before half, despite a very questionable offensive pass interference call. Haslam kicked a 41-yarder into a chilling wind with three seconds left, and Bountiful led 20-0 at half. Emery's offense, held to just 31 total yards in the first half while Bountiful was amassing 257 yards, continued to sputter in the third quarter. Bountiful held the Spartans and took over at its 30. Sophomore Mason Jacobs entered the game at quarterback, giving Beck a chance to further heal from an ankle injury SEE BRAVES B2 By TOM HARALDSEN BOUNTIFUL The Bountiful Braves have been so dominant on the football field this season that about the only foe that stands a chance to beat them is injuries. Even that didn't slow down the Big Red Machine Friday afternoon. Bountiful rolled to a methodical 27-7 win over Emery, setting up the Braves' first state semifinal in several years next Saturday night at Rice Stadium against surprising Mountain Crest. As it has all year, Bountiful dominated this game on the lines, both offensive and defensive. The Braves opened huge holes for their running backs while at the same time pressed Emery quarterback Gus Childs into oblivion. In short: this game was never in doubt. Bountiful learned just an hour before the contest that senior quarterback Austin Lindsey was sick. The extent of his illness wasn't immediately known Friday night, but Coach Larry Wall turned the reigns over to junior Brad Beck, who started for Bountiful much of last year. Beck and company began the game with a 13-play, 65-yard drive culminating with a one-yard TD plunge from Chris Jones. On the drive, Beck threw just one pass, completing a 17-yard strike to Chris Godfrey. Jones did most of the rest of the work, and Jason Haslam's kick made it 7-0 with 6:54 in the period. 1 Emery's first offensive drive ended in disaster, a third-down fumble that Godfrey recovered at the Spartan 28. Jones ran twice for ft:if g i fH I The Braves' premier running back Chris Jones led Bountiful to a 27-7 victory over the Emerv County Spartans Friday. r Braves CONT. FROM B 1 he suffered against Logan a week ago. Jacobs led the Braves on a 70-yard 70-yard drive, scoring himself from the eight yard line. Haslam made it 27-0 with 6:48 left in the third. From that point on, it was kill the clock time. Emery threatened to score on its next drive, moving to the Bountiful 12 before senior Kory Andreasen picked off Quids at the eight and returned the interception 23 yards. Even when Bountiful fumbled the ball back to Emery two plays later, the defense held and a short field goal attempt sailed wide. By then, Wall was substituting freely, and Emery got its only score with just five seconds left in the game when Quids hit tight end Jared Butler with a seven-yard pass. Jones finished with 160 yards on 29 carries, but all of the Braves continued con-tinued to show the value of great teamwork. "We don't get too high or too low as a team," Wall said afterwards. after-wards. "One week we may play a team that's down and the next we may play a team with a fine record We've been able to maintain a level of consistency so far, and that's one reason we ' ve been successful. ' ' The Braves, now 11-0 and the only unbeaten team in Utah, will set their sights on a Mountain Crest team that upset second-ranked Springville at Springville Friday afternoon. Bountiful 's trip to the "turf" at Rice Stadium will mark its first visit to Rice in several seasons, and its first since returning to 3-A last year. Bear River and surprising Spanish Fork will meet in the other 3-A semi at Rice on Saturday. |