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Show ORE M TIMES Page 9 COMMUNITY SPORTS, PEOPLE AND OUTDOOR FUN Mountain Woew mm away ffranra Toed Thursday, September 25, 2008 KyleFlanagan SPORTS CORRESPONDENT If you think that lighting doesn't strike twice in the same spot, you obviously haven't seen Mountain View running back Anthony Heimuli play back-to-back games at the Bruin Bowl in Orem. Heimuli, who recorded 221 yards rushing and two touchdowns touch-downs in last Friday's win over Payson, struck again last night with 163 yards and three touchdowns as his Bruins took care of the visiting Tooele Buffaloes Buf-faloes in blowout fashion with a 42-7 Region 7 victory. The Buffaloes handed Orem a loss a week ago and entered the showdown with the Bruins wide-eyed and shooting for a second consecutive Region 7 upset in Utah County. "They (Tooele) did a great job beating Orem and we kind of figured that we needed to jump on them early," Mountain View coach Teko Johnson said. "We needed to take away some of that confidence they got in that big win against Orem. 1 think that was huge for us." Attacking the Buffaloes early was no problem for the Bruins as Heimuli took all of 26 seconds to make his presence felt when he broke free for a 69-yard touchdown run on Mountain View's second play from scrimmage. "He's (Heimuli) a big, fast, physical, tough kid," Johnson said. "He's got to keep bringing bring-ing it." After a quick Tooele offensive of-fensive possession, the Bruins turned their offensive attack towards the air as quarterback Dust in Thacker found Chris Wright for a 35-yard touchdown touch-down pass .to put the Bruins up 14-0 less than three minutes into the game. "Running is kind of what we do," Johnson said. "But we need to be able to pass when the pass is there, and it was. We threw the ball well Multi-purpose football players still thriving in Utah County Jared Lloyd NORTH COUNTY Football used to be dominated domi-nated by the versatile athlete who played offense, defense, special teams and so the old saying went cleaned the locker room and sold popcorn at halftime. In this era of specialization, the two-way athlete has become be-come something of a novelty at the upper levels of the sport but is still common in the high school ranks. Players that go further than just offense and defense are more rare but they aren't extinct yet. Utah Valley boasts a number of exceptional athletes that provide their teams tremendous tremen-dous production in all aspects of the game, players like Orem's Tyler Boulter, Pleasant Grove's LeSean Wilcox, American Amer-ican Fork's Nathaniel Olsen and Provo's Anthony Miles. "Sometimes you find someone some-one that has real competitiveness, competitive-ness, someone that isn't looking look-ing to come out of the game," said Caveman head coach Davis Knight. "Those players have to have a real football ;VcoOgarstat. 1 P'i IB -.US I i U ( 8' ft ' A 8 M f u iff X 1 Mountain View's Chris Wright runs tonight." Thacker, who took the majority ma-jority of the snaps for the Bruins' Bru-ins' rotating quarterback strategy, strat-egy, hooked up with Wright again just before the halftime break, this time for a 26-yard touchdown strike. With the air attack working, the Bruins became an even bigger big-ger threat on the ground and Heimuli took advantage of the personality, that have a real football-tough kid. "We also look at them after two or three games and see if we have the confidence to keep them in that type of position. posi-tion. If it's an issue, then you look at him playing one area or the other." All four of these players not only play offense (running back or receiver), defense (defensive back or safety) and return kicks, they also punt or kick the ball. "Ever since I was young I played soccer," explained Olsen. Ol-sen. "I've practiced kicking a lot and I like doing it." Having a Miles, an OLsen or a Wilcox as part of the kicking game gives coaches some extra ex-tra options. "Not only does LeSean (Wilcox) (Wil-cox) average around 40 yards per punt, he's also always a threat for a fake," said Viking head coach Dale Sampson. "He's an athlete that we can put in several places that is a threat every time he touches the ball, so we try to create opportunities op-portunities for him in space." Perhaps no one is as valuable to his team as Miles is for the Bulldogs. The senior has had ' . t !, the ball up the field through the openings. Heimuli found the end zone in the second quarter on a 2-yard run to complete his 121-yard, 121-yard, two-touchdown effort in the first half. Needing to make a statement state-ment in the third quarter and put the game away for good, tlv; Bruins turned their attention atten-tion to the senior running back one more time, and on the sec some monster games receiving and returning kicks, including going the length of the field on kickoff returns in each of his past two games. These type of athletes have a mentality that pushes them to do as much as they can for the team. "I just always want to make a play," Olsen said. "If I'm on the field, I have more opportunities opportu-nities to do that." His coach has appreciated appreci-ated the level of excellence he brings to the field in all areas. "He comes from a good football background," Knight said. "He's been a really good running back and has excellent speed. He's also a starting safety safe-ty and has gotten compliments at camps we've gone to for being a big hitter. We've also used him in kicking the ball. He just has a good appetite for the game." Wilcox is made from the ' same mold, a guy that can do a lot of things for his team. "We're always trying to put the best players on the field," Sampson explained. "He is one of our best with what he can bring athletically. He's not afraid to hit or take a hit. He's L Look what $10 a month can purchase... $250,000 10 year term life policy (Male - age 39, good health and non-smoker) Representing only .financially-rated companies for your . r -4 Tooele defense on Friday in Orem. ond play of the third quarter, Heimuli rattled off a 42-yard run for the score and the 35-7 Bruin lead. While he is responsible for dodging defenders and making would-be tacklers miss on a consistent basis, Heimuli won't take all the credit for his performance. per-formance. "My line. Wow," Heimuli said. "And receivers going definitely an impact player." The Pleasant Grove head coach believes Wilcox will have a chance to show what he can do at a collegiate level on the defeasive side of the ball. Olsen also said that if he had to choose, he would pick defense. "I like to hit," he said. "I like contact. That's what football is all about. I like to be the hunter, not the hunted." As much as all four players play-ers and the others like them throughout the Valley do for their teams, they know that their do-it-all role is getting more and more rare. "More guys are going one way," Olsen said. "They focus on one thing. It can help but we like to have the best players play-ers on the field and a lot of us go both ways. We take pride in it here at AF." The benefits of platooning players and specialization have changed the game and Knight doesn't think that's necessarily bad. "I remember when the quarterback would run, pass, kick, punt and play safety," he said. "There was something See PLAYERS, Page 1 1 the highest insurance protection! Locally if M . - out and blocking, they open up those holes for me. I'm just there doing my job, running through those holes." Heimuli wasn't the only one getting in on the action from the ground as fellow running back T.J. Mounga added the final touch for the Bruins with a 33-yard run for a score at the end of the third quarter. After dropping its first three '"" if FILENorth County Orem's Tyler Boulter tackles Timpanogos' Justin Nickle in a game on Sept. 5, 2008. (Willi fjl&i owned and operated. Chamber ' ' - MARIO RUIZNorth County games of the season, Mountain View has now won two consecutive con-secutive contests and hopes to carry the momentum into its next game against defending 4 A champion Timpview. "Right now, we're coming together," Heimuli said. "We always yell family (before playing); that's pretty much why we play. We play for each other." member, founded in 1979! 1 1 I'f Benefit Controls COM P A N I E S i ! vmj (mmm 1 |
