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Show Vikes win pre-seasoe against Orem 23-15 .' p X - bSAxy V l J !, By Robert Bean and Jack Hill Flanker Scott Mosher snagged touchdown passes of 10 and 48 yards that helped propel the Pleasant Grove Vikings to a 23-15 preseason win over Orem last Friday night. The Vikes had to hold their breath late in the fourth quarter as the Tigers clawed their way back to within 8 points of Pleasant Grove via two second half touchdowns; one by quarterback Joe Evans and a 66 yard bomb from tailback Brett Weeks to Bill Herlin. These scores came after a dismal first half which saw the tigers trailing 23-3. Orem began their final drive of the evening with less than two minutes on the clock and one time out remaining. Evans moved the ball downfield with several crisp passes including a 15 yarder to split end Jim Hoyal on fourth and 10 inside Viking territory. Evans then wasn't totally pleased with his team's performance either. "We went to sleep" said Bluth. "We made too many mistakes. Our intensity in-tensity was lost." Orem scored first, a 26 yard field goal in the first period. The kick came after a Tiger drive was stopped by the aggressive Viking front line. Brad Kitchen, Dave Williams and Mike Sumner alone along with linebackers Don Parker and Jerry Wood put Orem in a fourth and five situation at the Viking nine yard line. The Tigers settled for the field goal. Mosher then beat Herlin, the free safety and Thomas put the ball on the money for a 48 yard score. Don Field kicked the point after for a 7-3 PG lead. After changing goals to start the second period, PG put together a balanced ground and air game to mnvp in the Orem 11 Thomas fensive efforts. Orem, previously unscored on in two games and with an offense held to just three points that had rolled up 41 and 34 points against Payson and Spanish Fork, was bound to play better in the second half. They did! To say that Orem dominated PG in the final two quarters would be a conservative statement. The Vikes managed just one first down and a total second half offensive output of just four yards. Meanwhile, the Tigers were striking for 221 yards in the air and 51 on the ground and two touchdowns. touch-downs. PG's defense was bending but it now completely broke. The Tigers needed six plays from inside the nine to get their first touchdown and that came on a fourth and one play with Evans reading the veer to perfection. Evans pulled the ball sprained an ankle following his 24 yard first half catch and sat out the remainder of the game. Back-up Brent Larsen, hobbled by a strained knee, left the game limping and that opened the door for Debenham, the J.V. tight end. Both Jolley and Larsen are doubtful for Fridays Homecoming game with Payson. Depending on whether the lights are installed and working, PG will play the Lions at 5 or 7:30. Payson is winless in two games and did not have a game last week. Dave McKee, former BYU cor-nerback, cor-nerback, is the new Lion coach and he is faced with leading a program that only has one way to go-up. On paper, PG is a heavy favorite. Since the game is played on grass, not paper, the Vikes will need to ignor comparative scores and be ready to go Friday afternoon-or night. Evan Thomas dives for yardage in PG-OremsmT game. Corey Carter is left. Photo by Steve Cook , .... - s v, ' ; . " 155: W ' -r : ' 1 . t - '"' --' i i - - . . .iff" . VJ i hit Herlin to the 11 yard line with 6 seconds remaining and the clock running. Evans rushed to the line of ' scrimmage but could not throw the ball out of bounds before time expired ex-pired and a frustrated Evans collapsed on the ground in tears. The first half was all Pleasant Grove as the Vikings scored three touchdowns and cashed in on two point trys. Unquestionably the most exciting drive came late in the half as the Vikings took over with 1:09 left. Quarterback Eric Thomas hooked up with reserve receiver Jim Debeiihaia ior a big gain inside the Orem 30 and several plays later Thomas lofted a pass into the end-zone end-zone which was tipped in the air and caught by Mosher to make the score 21-3. The Vikes went for the 2 point conversion and Thomas, sprinting to his right drilled tailback Jesse Walker to put P.G. up 23-3 at the half. Head coach Steve Downey commented after the game "Our secondary made too many mistakes the first half, we wanted to put them in passing situations and we did. They just nailed it." Doug Bluth started back on what looked like a pass but slipped the ball to Walker who cut left and scored standing up, Thomas then passed to Bill Adamson for two points. When the Vikes got the ball with 1:09 to play in the half, just about everyone expected Coach Bluth to run out the clock. The Viking headman went to the two minute drill. A nine yard run by Walker, two keepers by Thomas good for 13 more yards and passes to Robert Jolley for 24 yards and the 30 yard completion to Debenham put the ball at the 16. Heath Johnston went five more yards on a screen pass. At the 11, Thomas passed into the endzone where two Orem defenders batted the ball but the alert Mosher grabbed the ball just inches before it went out of bounds. Thomas' pass to Walker to make it 23-3 with :09 seconds to play. PG had rolled up 114 yards passing in the first half to go with 71 yards on the ground. Orem had 88 yards in the air and 82 on the ground but only three points to show for their of- from the fullback at the last instant and dove into the endzone. i Herlins' 66 yard catch of the reverse pass came after PG had appeared to stop Orem in Tiger territory. The receiver cut deep across the Viking secondary and caught the perfectly thrown ball in stride. From there the lanky end just outran the Viking defenders. Coach Bluth was shaking his head after the game when Orem finally ran out of time at the Viking 11. Actually the Tigers were out of time outs two plays earlier but the officials of-ficials had mistakenly charged PG with a timeout that had been called by the Tigers. The extra chance to stop the clock allowed Orem to get off another play, a 16 yard pass completion before the clock read :00. "Next year we get an extra time out and at least one play with 12 players," said a smiling Bluth. He was referring to the 1983 game that had Orem accidently use 12 players on the game winning play in Orem's 17-14 win at PG. Jolley, starting Viking tight end ' Brad Kitchen chases Orem's Joe Evans in Viking 23-15 win over the Tigers Friday Photo by Blayne Davis. ' f |