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Show B8 Wednesday, August 25, 2004 (LOtes ffalfl to Jtaami 0iie r . u., . u:ui:i-. . i r: ...:u e.AA 1V L By Michael J. Bjornson, Ph.D. Express Sports Writer Fourth down and 37 to go to make a game winning score. It seemed impossible. In overtime, each team gets a chance to score, starting on their opponent's 25 yard line. The Utes had their opportunity and did not convert. The score was tied at 13 and then it happened. The last play of overtime for the Juan Diego Eagles, also turned into their most important play of the game. A long aired-out pass to Juan Diego's wide receiver Wilson, who athletically leapt to pull in the final score of the game, stunning Ute football fans and players. Final score, Uintah Utes 13, Juan Diego, 19. In what some skeptics considered would be a sure win for Juan Diego, was actually a game where the Utes convincingly outplayed a very athletic ath-letic and disciplined Juan Diego team and had victory within their reach. The Utes moved the ball well offensively, but two critical interceptions inter-ceptions by Juan Diego as the Utes were poised to score, ended two excellent Ute drives and allowed the Eagles to "stay in the game". Defensively, the Utes swarmed the Eagles each time they carried the ball, dishing out punishing hits that were beginning to take a toll on the visiting team. The defensive secondary second-ary also provided good pass coverage, cover-age, limiting the Eagles offensive attack. T W Jarring hits characterize the Utes S3 d . Demolition derby delivers By Michael J. Bjornson, Ph.D. Express Sports Writer The sound of heavy metal, but not in the way of music, was the order of the evening. The Demolition Derby offered fast crunching, grinding, grind-ing, bending, slamming, and bone-jarring bone-jarring action in the final event of the Uintah County Fair Saturday night. In front of a packed arena at Western Park, the drivers put on a show to remember. The evening eve-ning events included four heats, a powder puff event for women only, a "main event", and the "wipeout event". Each heat winner won $500, with second place winners earning $250. The Grand prize earning was $2,000, second Grand prize $1,500 and third Grand Prize $1 ,000. Winners for each of the categories were as follows: in the first heat, first place honors went to Lynn Mason from Heber City who was a "smashing" success, driving his X-44 green station wagon. Lane Simmons of Vernal, driving car 66 battled fearlessly with a crunched front end, and captured second place. Third place went to Brady Toon in car 02. In the second heat, 19 Brady Rich delivered the "knockout blow" to take first place honors, followed by Darren Brandt, 21 earning second sec-ond place. In third place was 33, Brad Bowman, who was still able to maneuver without one of his tires. In the third heat, Gus Adams from Price, Utah "crashed" his way into first place, relegating the number 2 spot to 47 Jack Nyland. Number 32, John Schults allowed himself to be "bent" into third place. In Quarter by quarter highlights include the following: In the first quarter, Juan Diego jumped out to a quick touchdown and point after, gaining a 7-0 lead. Defensively for the Utes, Joe Lawson broke up a pass by the Eagles, while Phillip Keddy applied intense pressure on their quarterback, forcing a fumble which the Utes recovered. The Utes marched through two possessions and ended up punting. At the end of the first quarter, Juan Diego led by a score of 7-0. In second quarter action, the Utes defense showed their toughness when Tyrone Tapoof, Utes defensive defen-sive tackle, had a great stop limiting limit-ing the eagles to less than a yard. On second down and four to go, the Utes forced a fumble which they almost recovered. They held the Eagles on third down, forcing a field goal attempt, which did not make it through the uprights for Juan Diego. On the Utes next offensive possession, posses-sion, Phillip Keddy slammed ahead for an eight yard gain, followed by a first down catch from quarterback quar-terback Chris Morton to tight end Jake Gardiner, who snagged the catch amidst heavy traffic. This was immediately followed by another Morton to Gardiner completion for a first down at the Juan Diego 26 yard line. On the verge of scoring, scor-ing, the Utes drive came to a grinding grind-ing halt when the Eagles Wilson, "picked" the ball off that was intended intend-ed for Gardiner, giving possession , ! stye of play. At V Car number 42 is turned into a compact car by number 1. the fourth heat, 89 Brian Peed of Vernal came "screeching" into first place, followed by 41 Jay Carroll in second place. Third place went to 24, Chuck Hardman. There was nothing soft about the womens "Powder Puff event, as 67 Mindy Wakefield of Heber City delivered a crunching performance to take first place, winning $500. Second place honors went to 15, to Juan Diego with 5:44 left in the second quarter. The Utes defense quelled any momentum that Juan Diego might have built when JD Hacking stuck it to the Eagles quarterback, delivering deliv-ering a six yard loss. On third and 16 to go for a first down, with four minutes to go in the second, the Eagles quarterback aired it out for Wilson, but the pass was almost intercepted by the Utes, leading to a fourth down punting situation. The punt was fielded by Phillip Keddy. Morton then went to work, swinging out to his right side, faking a pass, and cutting back against the grain through the middle, leading to a 3rd and 1 yard to go situation. Keddy then continued piling up the yards, gaining a first down. The Utes Casey Bird then had a pass completion comple-tion at Juan Diego's 28 yard line. This was followed by another Juan Diego interception, with one minute to go in the first half. After a brief Juan Diego drive to their own 43 yard line, they went to their passing game, with the Utes Skylar Massey answering back with an interception with just 35 seconds left in the half. Time expired before the Utes could do much with the ball. In the second half, a spirited Ute squad stormed the playing field, ready to play. The Utes Caden Mayberry fielded the kickoff, and the offensive drive was on. On second sec-ond and eight to go, Gardiner hauled in a first down pass and was forced out of bounds, advancing the Utes to their own 34 yard line. Keddy moved the Utes another six yards on the next play, followed by an incompletion to Gardiner. Morton then hung on to the ball, scrambling quickly to the 50 yard line. With the help of good offensive blocking, block-ing, Keddy used his running skills over the next two plays, cutting to the right to gain an important first down, followed by a two yard burst. Morton then connected on a great pass with Andrew Allen near the Utes sideline for a first down in Juan Diego territory. The offensive offen-sive attack continued with Dillon Hansen grabbing a long pass from Morton, advancing them to the Eagles 1 1 yard line. On the very next play, Gardiner would not be denied the end zone, as he caught a quick slant pass from Morton for the Utes first touchdown midway through the third quarter! The point after was successful, thus tying the game at 7 points apiece. Daniel Hyde kicked off for the Utes, and on Juan Diego's first offensive possession, they had a successful pass completion which was fumbled and quickly recovered recov-ered by Keddy. This gave the Utes excellent field position at their own 45 yard line. The Utes were halted and forced to punt. The Eagles then Kinsey Goodwin, while 50, Amy Rowell spun into third place. The Main Event featured the top three place finishers from each heat, providing that their cars could still run. Twelve cars competed in this event, with a winning cash prize of $2,000. Brad Bowman came through at "crunch" time for the big victory, followed by Brian Peed. Third place honors were captured by yl; Mkdfdi ' odd overtime mmim' it "WMtiw, ' '.,-..-m"t-unu mi...iii m. u i j.i i, j. . .. . -I ' - - - t ' . M ' " ' ' ' "J " , ) A V Y U SI , ' ' " " ," ' . The Utes Phillip Keddy abrupty play. put together a successful offensive drive, marching the ball down field. The Eagles Michael Robinson burst up the middle, and found breathing breath-ing space as he cut to the right side of the field and sprinted across the goal line for the touchdown. The Utes blocked the point after attempt, limiting the Eagles to six points. The score now stood at 13 to 7 with 1:12 remaining in the third quarter. On their next possession Morton connected with wide receiver Alex Spendlove for a first down, followed fol-lowed by a quarterback keeper, which ended the third quarter. The Utes began the fourth quarter quar-ter with good field position at the 50 yard line. Keddy took a handoff, sprinted right to get the first down. The Eagles were then called for a late hit, which advanced the ball forward 15 yards for the Utes. After a quarterback keeper for 4 yards, Morton connected with Lawson to set up a first down and goal within the five yard line. Morton took the snap and quickly plunged into the end zone over left tackle for the touchdown, tying the game at 13. A missed point after kick kept the Photo by Kitta Dory 21, Darren Brandt. The "Wipeout" event featured 44 Gus Adams, taking tak-ing away the gold "metal" prize of $500. Number 14, Chris Pike, finished second, while 77 Rob Baker, was third. What great fun! Congratulations to all the drivers for their accomplishments, for avoiding serious injury and for providing an evening of thrilling excitement for all the spectators. halts Juan Diego's ground game game tied until regulation time expired in the fourth quarter, leading lead-ing to overtime. In overtime, each team had four downs to convert into a score. The Utes had first possession pos-session and did not score, after a failed field goal attempt. As previously previ-ously stated. Juan Diego was able to convert on fourth down for the touchdown and victory. For the Ute squad, this was a very difficult loss, especially since they outplayed Juan Diego, but failed to capitalize on a few key plays. Head coach Kevin Dixon, was pleased with a lot of what the Utes did and felt they should have won. "The kids came out and battled." Their conditioning was evident as they played hard throughout the game. Dixon also staled that the kids made good adjustments to Juan Diego's offense, defended Wilson well, but they needed to "step up" to make more big plays. Despite having a "new offense" this year, which , , . . .. 4 gJ F 'i,ffgJ r " f 4 1 ir..J Yrr Lady Utes compete in volleyball tourney Uintah hitter, Maggie Bartel, spikes another ball against Delta in tournament play last Saturday in St. George. Uintah went on to beat Delta, but lost to Carbon in a close finals match. NFL Punt, Pass & Kick competition coming up The Uintah Recreation District is getting ready for another Pepsi Punt, Pass and Kick competition on Sept. 15 at 5:30 p.m. This free competition will be held at the Prep Field in the Vernal City Park (500 North 900 West). The Punt Pass and Kick program is an opportunity for boys and girls ages 8 - 15 to compete against their peers after a jarring tackle in first quarter is more of a spread out formation versus the traditional pro set, they advanced the ball well. According to coach Ed Browning, the Utes gained 176 yards from their ground game. Keddy had 21 carries for 108 yards, Morton had nine carries for 49 yards, Bird had 3 carries for 20 yards, while Mayberry had 3 carries for five yards. . , The next game is an away game on August 27th against Carbon Coach Dixon indicates that Carbon "plays us tough and there is a great rivalry between the two teams" This is a talented Ute squad with a winning attitude that is very capable of winning many games this sea son. If you have a chance, get out and support the Utes, they are an exciting team to watch. Stay tuned for good things to come from this team! in punting, passing and place-kick ing skills. There will be four age divisions and the top scorer from each division will go on to the sec tional competition. This event is free for all partici pants. Registration will begin at 5 p.m. and competition will begin at 5:30 p.m. |