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Show OREM TIMES Page 9 COMMUNITY SPORTS, PEOPLE AND OUTDOOR FUN Andie Young Orem High School mm Thursday, September 11, 2008 TWiIb Mb Russ lyman NORTH COUNTY Last season's Orem-Tirnpa-nogos game came down to a missed field goal attempt that bounced off the left upright. The Tigers' 14-9 win on Friday night may have been even closer. With less than five minutes left to play and the score 14-9, 14-9, the Tiger defense kept the TW olves out of the end zone after Timpanogos had a first-and-goal from the Orem 2-yard line. On third and fourth downs, the Orem defensive line held the T"Wotves out on running plays, and on second down Austin Jones came up with a beautiful pass breakup. After the huge defensive stand, the Orem defense would need to deliver once again, this time with less than a minute left to play. The Tigers nearly forced a turnover on downs, but a roughing the passer penalty gave the TWoh'es the ball on the 9-yard line with a fresh set of downs and 35 seconds on the clock. However, on Timpanogos' first-down play, the ball was snapped over quarterback Parker Brown's head and Orem's Alihi Fa'alafua scooped up the fumble and rumbled to the TWolf 15-yard line to seal the game for the Tigers. "The defense played pretty good, I was pleased with those kids," said Orem coach Robert Steele. "They were out there playing their hearts out so that's what counts." Timpanogos got on the board first when Brown nailed a 53-yard 53-yard field goal in the first quarter. quar-ter. Brown made it a6-0 game when he drilled a 39-yard field goaL On the first play of Orem's ensuing possession. Josh Hamb-lin Hamb-lin threw a strike to Lance Chat-terley Chat-terley down the right sideline for an 80-yard touchdown that put the Tigers ahead 7-6. "Josh threw a great ball," Chatterley said. "1 had to reach out for it, but if it had been any shorter then they probably would've touched it. It was perfect per-fect and I just ran it out." Orem's Jones went up high for an interception in the end Owlz set ZD Orem's Hector Est'rella jumps over Greg Paimt of Great Falls after 2007 Pioneer league Finals on Sept. 12, 2007 in Orem. Neil K. Warner NORTH COUNTY The Orem Owlz have been here before. Not the players themselves, but the franchise. Does that matter? ; The Owlz will soon find out because for the seventh time in the last eight years, the Orem Owlz franchise will be playing for the Pioneer League Championship. ,'Orem, the winner of the South Division, will be looking look-ing to defend its Pioneer League title against the Great Falls Voyagers, A year ago, the Owlz beat Great Falls in the championship series. Since last year Great Falls has changed its name from the White Sox to the Voyagers. Following Wednesday Orem High School's Miah Tiatia (43) zone to give the ball back to the Tigers' offense. On Orem's second sec-ond consecutive offensive play, Hamblin found a receiver for a big gain, this time it was Tyler Boulter for a 50-yard completioa Hamblin capped off Orem's final scoring drive by hitting tight end Jordan Egbert on a fade in the corner of the end zone from 1 1 yards out to put Orem up 14-6. Timpanogos pulled within five points after Brown drilled his third field goal of the game, this time from 54-yards out to make it a 14-9 game. "I think we didnt bend, we never gave up," Steele said. "I mean there was a lot of times they got down inside 20's and we forced for championship night's game, the two teams will return for Game 2 on Friday Fri-day night in Orem (7:05 p.m.) and if Game 3 is necessary, it will be played Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. "Hopefully we can finish it off in two games," said Orem manager Brent Del Chiaro. "They have a great pitching staff and their team swings it. Tyler Kuhn (.375) was second in the league in hitting. They have the top three pitchers in strikeouts in the league. Our hitters know that and they're prepared for the challenge that faces them. Our pitching staff is prepared to face their top guns up there. For me it's going to be a battle. It should be a really, really fun series." Orem beat Great Falls five times in seven games this year, but it's not a surprise is tackled by Timpanogos' Joe field goals and that's the difference." differ-ence." The field goal came early in the third quarter, but it was the last of the scoring in what turned out to be a defensive struggle. Both offenses took turns turning over the football, combining for a total of seven interceptions. "One of my coaclies said, tell me you've seen an uglier game? I hadn't," Steele said. "I haven't seen one like that and I've been around for a while." Orem's offense struggled to move the ball thraighout the game, but made two big plays when it counted to come away with the win. The real credit for the Tigers' win goes to the D ASHLEY FRANSCEUNorth County throwing to first during the that the Owlz would hold the regular season advantage over Great Falls because Orem finished with the league's best record at 52-23. Great Falls was just 19-19 in the first half of the North Division and 20-18 in the second sec-ond half. Orem beat Ogden 9-7 on Monday night to win its series 2-1 to advance to the championship series, while Great Falls dispatched of Billings Bill-ings in two games. Manaurys Correa was chosen to start Wednesday's game. Del Chiaro didn't say who would follow Correa's start, but it is expected Orem would go with Jayson Miller, the Pioneer League Pitcher of the Year in Game 2 and likely Will Smith in Game 3. CRAIQ DILGERNorlh County Kruger (99) during a game on Friday in Orem. defense. Jones had five solo tackles and made three of the biggest plays of the game. It was Jones who came up with an end zone pick in the first half. Jones then knocked away two passes in the Orem end zone late in the fourth quarter to preserve the win "Against Viewmont we got beat deep a lot, so our IB coach has been wc king us," Jones said. '1 just liave to give it to my coaches for teaching me how to stav back. I was just breaking on thebaOs." Morgan Whimmer also had a big day at the other cornerback spot, finishing with seven tackles and an interception Owlz beat Raptors in three games to advance Neil K. Warner NORTH COUNTY Why don't more people know about Orem Owlz in-f in-f ielder Luis Jimenez? It could be that he signed as a free agent from the Dominican Domini-can Republic and was never drafted. Or it could be because he's playing in his first minor league season. Or perhaps it's because he's gotten lost hitting behind Pioneer League MVP Roberto Lopez. Whatever the reason, Jimenez Jime-nez couldn't do more to make a name for himself than what he did on Monday night in Orem in the deciding Game 3 of Orem's playoff series with Ogden. Jimenez drove in five runs and helped Orem end Ogden's season with a 9-7 win. The Owlz will now play Great Falls for the Pioneer League Championship in a three-game series that opens on Wednesday in Great Falls. "Tonight we just threw it out there and we had some fun. We took a good b.p. Our game preparation was excellent. excel-lent. 1 was really proud of these guys because there was some tight situations tonight," said Orem manager Brent Del Chiaro. "These guys have been through so much in the past month. They've faced so much adversity. They came back tonight and played loose, joyful joy-ful and as happy as they could. They went about their business busi-ness and got the job done." Jimenez, or Lucho as he is called, was so hot at the plate that he went 4-for4, homered, tripled and drove in five runs and had to feel a bit disappointed. disap-pointed. How is that possible? He had a chance to hit a double to complete the elusive cycle, but couldnt come up with one. "I think everyone has been The defensive line was dominated domi-nated by Fa'alafua and Ammon Avans, while Egbert had four solo tackles, two pass deflections, deflec-tions, and an interception from his linebacker spot to go with his 53 yards receiving. The Tiger offense was led by Hamblin who had 1 1 completions for 216 yards and two touchdowns. touch-downs. Chatterley finished with two catches for 95 yards, while Boulter had 109 total yards. The TWolves were led by Brown who booted three field goals and completed 24 passes for 249 yards. Timpanogos' Scott Curtis had a solid game on defense and had a crucial interception late in the game. overshadowed this year with the way Lopez (has played). A .400 hitter just doesn't come around," Del Chiaro said. "He really relishes in the role of being in the spotlight so whenever when-ever that situation arises he's come through in more situations situa-tions than not and tonight he was our guy." Jimenez has quietly had a sensational year. He was an Pioneer League All-Star, but in most other years he would have been the MVP had it not been for Lopez hitting .400 for the regular season. Jimenez hit .331 and led the Pioneer League with 15 home runs. He continued to add to a remarkable season when he got the Owlz going in the first inning when he secured the most difficult stage of the cycle cy-cle with a two-run triple that helped Orem take a 4-2 lead. With the Owlz clinging to a 4-3 lead in the third inning, Jimenez absolutely crushed a solo home run to left center that cleared the second fence to give Orem a 5-3 lead. Then in the fifth, he singled in a run in a pivotal three-run inning. The Owlz scored two more runs in the inning on a wild pitch and a Michael Wing single RBI single. Jimenez was now just a double away from the cycle and it was only the fourth inning. Jimenez got another chance in the fifth inning, but it wasnt a double - he had to settle with an infield single that scored a run to give the Owlz a 9-5 lead. He wouldn't get another chance. He was on deck when the Owlz made the final out in the eighth inning and Orem closer Jeremy Thome picked up his ninth save of the year by closing out Ogden in the ninth. Orem starter Buddy Bosh-ers Bosh-ers picked up the win. He went 5 23 innings and gave up four runs, two of those came in the first inning off Class: Senior Sport: Tennis Born: Salt Lake City Favorite movie: Any Disney movie Favorite book: Hoot by Carl Hiaasen Favorite tennis player: Roger Federer Favorite sports moment: Winning last week in St. George Notable sports achievement: 2007 4A state champion in No. 3 singles Future plans: Play tennis for BYU next fall Why I chose to play tennis: Because I felt like it was more my strength and I can play it my whole life Hero: My dad Person who has most influenced my career: Rob Sperry Interesting fact: I'm a lefty Hobbies: Hiking, running, playing piano, playing with little brothers Favorite sports besides tennis: Soccer, Soc-cer, football Favorite class: Medical Anatomy Planned career: Something in the medical field Dream vacation: Europe Coach's quote: "She's just kept improving her game since she was a freshman. Now she's playing amazingly well. When she plays her top game she's close to unbeatable un-beatable because of how athletic she is. I don't even want to think about losing her (to graduation). More than anything, she's an amazing example to have on the team. She has amazing sportsmanship, she cares about what's going on with everything else, and she loves the game." Orem tennis coach Lindsay Pierson a pair of home runs from Tony Delmonico and Steven Caseres. Ogden tried to keep the game close. Kyle Russell doubled in A run in the sixth. Clay Calfee followed with another an-other RBI double. The Raptors added a run in the eighth and one in the ninth to put a scare into the Owlz. I Ogden 8, Orem 6: At Orem, they came back in the first inning. The came back in the fourth. They came back in the ninth inning and to the delight of the crowd, in the bottom of the 10th inning, the Orem Owlz had the winning run at the plate. No, they couldn't, could they? With runners at first and second, Darwin Perez stepped up to the plate and looked like he might have a walk -off home run. He drove a pitch to deep right field. It could be, it might be. It wasn't. Perez's fly ball was caught at the fence to deflate Orem's final rally as Ogden beat the Owlz 6 in 10 innings on Sunday night to tie their best-of best-of -three playoff series at one game apiece. "We put ourselves in tough situations to come back and keep battling back," said Orem manager Brent Del Chiaro. "To our team's credit, they battled and there was no quit in them tonight. They put up a fight to the end. We just ran out of magic." It was an improbable win for Ogden considering the Raptors had only beaten Orem four times 17 games this season sea-son and the fact that they rallied ral-lied off Orem reliever Jeremy Thome, who was the Pioneer League's version of untouchable. untouch-able. Thome had given up just two runs all year, but that See OWLZ, Page 10 f. Copy |