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Show 18 Vernal Express Wednesday, September 6, 1995 Qort Hand Utes 18-7 setback Lebl PBoirueeirs eimdl yiinitialh) wd ini dud irogj sfcreaG aft 1 H VJ -.i i in ' by Eric F. Pye Sports Writer For faithful Utc fans, the first 8 12 minutes of the Uintah Lchi game last Friday evening in Vernal must have re-kindled hopes of a repeat re-peat '94 season. But those hopes were dashed as the game progressed with the Pioneers spoiling Uintah's 1995 opener. In discussing his team's 18 7 setback, head coach Curg Belcher was philosophical. "We played a pretty typical first game. If a coaching coach-ing staff could choose a game to lose, this would be the one. There were so many factors stacked against the kids. The weight of living liv-ing up to last year's accomplishments accomplish-ments and winning streak, along with our inexperienced lineup, was a tremendous load to bare." Indeed, the deck was stacked against the Utes in more ways than one. Despite their inexperience eight of 11 offensive players and eight of 11 defensive starters Uintah appeared not to notice as the game began. The team took the opening kickoff, and behind the guidance of quarterback Lance Klun, promptly began an eight-minute, eight-minute, 86 yard drive culminating in a Klun to Espindola nine yard pass for a 70 lead after the Lawson kick. But everything was not right in Ute land. A closer look at that opening drive revealed some very untypical Ute behavior. The team gained just 31 of those 86 yards on the ground. Klun came up with some big third and long completions under pressure to keep the drive alive. The offensive "' V.I o Senior quarterback Lance Klun scrambles around the right side looking for the opening during touchdown drive. Harriers improve with Duchesne outing by Eric F. Pye Sports Writer Uintah's cross country fortunes are beginning to look up literally. As a matter of fact, they had never looked up so much during the young season. That's because Duchesne has an incredible 'hill' right in the middle of their cross country course and athletes were required re-quired to run up it not once but twice during their respective races last Thursday, Aug. 31 in Duchesne. "That Duchesne course is by far the toughest course these kids will compete on this year," head coach Marland Stagg said. "Very few of the kids running from any of the schools participating was able to jog all the way up, most had to stop and walk, it was so steep. On courses iike that one, the main thing a coach thinks about is getting his team through without any injuries. The times are going to be slower due to the layout and the kids have to use more muscles than they are used to using to run," Coach Stagg explained. ex-plained. As expected, Duchesne had their way in the boy's competition, practicing prac-ticing on such a different type course definitely gives the home team an advantage. The Eagles compiled a low team score paced by defending state champion Cody Mote. Their 38 was eight points lower than runner up Uintah's 46. Mike Jackson paced the boy's team with a second place overall line last year's anchor seemed to be a step off. To top it all off, Steve Mcrklcy, only one of three returning linemen, went down with an ankle injury during Wednesday's practice. Still, after the Utes free safety Nick Espindola recovered a fumble on Lchi's first possession on the Lchi 38 Uintah seemed well on the way to another victory. The Utes following possession set the tone for the rest of the game. After an incomplete pass, halfback' Dave Lawson gained five yards in two carries. Facing fourth and five, Uintah went for it on fourth down like so many times last year, but Klun's pass was off target under a fearsome Pioneer rush. Lchi began their second offensive series on their own 33, picking up their first 1st down as the second quarter began. The Pioneers put together to-gether a 13 play drive, with stellar quarterback Bradon Cooper scoring on a one yard dive. The score was 7 6 Utes after the unsuccessful point after try. Cooper .was 3 for 3 passing during the drive. More importantly, im-portantly, Lehi exposed a raw Ute nerve tackling. "We put forth a disappointing effort defensively," Coach Belcher said. The kids didn't wrap up and didn't move their feet well at all. Consequently, we were doing a lot of arm tackling all night long." After Uintah gained eight yards on three straight Lawson carries, Lehi took possession on their own 45. The series marked another momentum momen-tum change as the Pioneers dis- finish and time of 18.12. Nate Weber was second for Uintah eighth overall with a 20.06 time with Dustin Pye finishing finish-ing third ninth overall in 20.13. Tory Mathis was fourth with a 20.52 while younger brother Trevor was fifth with a 21.04. Clint McKee and Josh Sorensen were sixth and seventh sev-enth at 21.05 and 21.06. In cross country scoring, the lower the score, the better. A perfect team score would be 15 points. That score could only be reached if a team took the top five places. Since those numbers add up to 15, that would be their score. Living up to Coach Stagg's words that they were improving quicker than the boys team, the Uintah girls won the Duchesne meet with a score of 28. Union was second with 56 and North Sanpete third with 82. Carrie Barlow and Andrea Whiting finished one-two in both team and all around scoring. Barlow came in at 24.08, just one second faster than Whiting's 24.09. Katie Richardson was third for Uintah with a 28.45. Freshman Annalee Bassett placed fourth on the team with a, 29 .22 in her first varsity meet. Jamie Lewis was the fifth and last placer for the girls with a 30.17. The team will compete in a pre-re-gion meet today (Wednesday), Sept 6 at Lehi. Uintah's first and only home meet will be Thursday, Sept. 14 at the Dinaland Golf Course beginning be-ginning at 4 p.m. daincd the Utes running attack and began blitzing Klun almost evry down. On third and seven from their own 48, Cooper rolled out escaping the grasp of several Utc defensive players play-ers - and scored on a 52 yard jaunt to give his team a 12 7 lead. Uintah had their best chance of the game to get back into it just before be-fore the half. After the second Lchi touchdown, Uintah went three plays and punted. After a 30 yard Lchi rush, Uintah sacked Cooper for a nine yard loss. Linebacker Dirk SeeFootball page 19 iiMMMiMM m ini ujibi;ii iKiuui, Bimiuu.P 0 r i j - v &iSkr -- V" 1 A Halfback Dave Lawson goes up to make the one-handed catch during third quarter action last Friday at home against Lehi. Volleyball girls gain valuable experience in Bountiful by Eric F. Pye Sports Writer The Lady Ute volleyball team knew they had a lot to learn heading into their home opener against Tabiona last Thursday and Bountiful Tournament Friday and Saturday. After completing the eight games in three days schedule, head coach Doris Salazar gained a better appreciation of what that learning will involve. "We are a very young and inexperienced inexpe-rienced team and it showed throughout our matches," Coach Salazar said. 'The best thing that happened was we got a clearer picture pic-ture of players and their abilities under un-der pressure. Practice is one thing, game situations are a whole different differ-ent story. We looked at 15 different players over the three days and were able to try several combinations. combina-tions. It will give us a foundation to build from." The team began the 1995 season Thursday against 1A Tabiona, who had already knocked off Park City. In a see-saw first game, Uintah finally fi-nally pulled out a 15-12 victory.' The Lady Utes fell behind early in the second game, eventually losing 15-9 to set up a third and deciding game. In that third game, Uintah raced out to a 9-3 lead and appeared headed for victory, but lost their concentration, the game 15-9 and the match. "That third game against Tabiona really showed our inexperience," inexperi-ence," Salazar said. "The girls thought they had the match won and quit competing as hard as they had been. Once Tabiona got a little momentum mo-mentum going, we tightened up and they played tougher. That was the match." The Bountiful tournament began Friday afternoon with eight teams involved. Uintah and Wasatch were the only non-4A and 5A schools participating. The team took on 4A Woods Cross Friday in a 4 p.m. contest, f (i h P - oJ f , 'f ti it...... , - -' - r V mi Safety Nick Espindola wraps up dropping a 15-12, 15-7 decision. Their second game followed an hour later against 5A host Bountiful, whom the girls had never beaten under the guidance of Salazar. Uintah raced to a 15-7 first game victory before the stunned crowd. The second game was also controlled by the Lady Utes, who took 5-1, 9-4 and 13-9 leads. Each time though, Bountiful responded with mini-runs of their own and finally fi-nally grabbed a 15-13 decision, sending the match into a third game, rally scoring format. Neither team ever led by more than two points throughout the contest. With the score tied 13 all, senior Lynette Senior setter Lynette Colovich gets full extension as she sets for sophomores Bonnie Hatch (foreground) and Liz Cranney during the Bountiful Invitational Tournament last weekend. the Utes first take away of the season during first quarter action. Girl's tennis comes up dry against Miners by Eric F. Pye Sports Writer The Lady Ute tennis team has had a lot of practice time lately which is why team members and coaches were so glad to get the season underway un-derway last Wednesday even if it was against 5A Bingham. "We were all getting a little tired of drilling and hitting against each other," new head coach Karen Bullock said. "We knew Bingham was the defending region champion for their division, but we just approached ap-proached the match as a great opportunity for the girls to learn." That 'learning experience' almost turned into an upset experience for Bingham as the Lady Ute tennis team dropped a close 3-2 decision. "We wanted to get at least one match under our belts before our first region match against Park City Tuesday and Bingham was nice enough to put us on their schedule at the last minute. It was a positive experience for the girls," Coach Bullock explained. Despite the practice match prior to Park City, the Lady Miners showed what kind of effect move-ins can Colovich skied high above the net for a huge kill shot to give Uintah a 14-13 lead. Bonnie Hatch's next serve was too hot to handle, giving the Lady Utes a big three game victory. vic-tory. "The Bountiful game was the high point of the tournament for the team. The girls played their best ball in that game and beat a good 5A team," Salazar stated. Uintah's final game Friday night came against 5A West Jordan. The girls jumped out to an early lead, but could not hold on, dropping the game 15-10. In the second game, it was obvious the Lady Utes were See Lady Utes page 20 mmmtii&mmm ,1 have on a program by taking the Lady Utes down yesterday (Tuesday) 4-1. "We felt going into the match based on what we knew about Park City from last year this might be the year for us in region," Coach Bullock stated. And why not? Uintah returned two state finalists (Breanne Pye and Amber Hadlock) along with two other letterwomen See Tennis page 19 Kokanee salmon day Sept. 16 Kokanee salmon, fish that turn red when they spawn, return to several Utah streams in September after spending about four years maturing in downstream reservoirs. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will mark the event by hosting Kokanee Salmon Day on Sept. 16 at two sites: Sheep Creek, a Flaming Gorge Reservoir tributary near Manila and the Strawberry River at the Strawberry Reservoir Visitor Center. Division biologists will be on site between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. with display dis-play materials to help viewers see the fish 'and to interpret the kokanee koka-nee 's behavior. Utah's salmon populations are a completely freshwater species known as kokanee salmon. They follow a similar life-cycle to other salmon except instead of migrating from the Pacific Ocean to freshwater freshwa-ter streams, kokanee migrate from freshwater lakes and reservoirs. While kokanee spawning runs are an excellent opportunity to discover Utah wildlife, viewers are asked to watch from the bank and to approach ap-proach and move quietly to avoid disturbing the fish. Studies have documented the fish are sensitive to bank disturbances and wading in the stream can disrupt the run, destroy the redds, (egg nests) and cover the eggs with silt. 1 |