Pioneers put away Payson

PAYSON — Lehi's speedy Tyson Thompson decided to spend Friday night haunting his old buddies in Payson.

Thompson, who once lived in the south Utah County community and played freshman football there, rushed for two touchdowns and returned a punt 50 yards for another score in leading the Pioneers to a 35-24 comeback win over the Lions. He also intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter and returned it 25 yards to set up Lehi's final score.

"This was the biggest game I've played so far," said Thompson, who finished with 124 rushing yards on 18 carries.

Behind the strong arm of senior quarterback Blake Francom, the Lions led 24-21 early in the fourth period and were driving inside Lehi's 40-yard line when Francom fumbled an exchange. The Pioneers recovered and the game's momentum changed from there. Eleven plays and 63 yards later, Lehi regained the lead when quarterback Aaron Larson hit Nolan Jenkins for a seven-yard score. The back-breaking play in the drive was a 26-yard inside screen pass to Riley Rampton on a third-and-10 situation.

"That's a tough play to defend and our guys executed it well," Lehi coach Joe Hayes said. "And Riley's the right guy to run it."

However, Payson coach Colby Knight didn't think that screen play or the fourth-quarter fumble were the ones that killed his team, but rather another fourth-down screen pass to Rampton in the third period. The Lions were up 16-7 and Lehi had a fourth-and-21 when Rampton snuck across the middle to grab a screen from Larson and raced 29 yards to the one-yard line. Thompson scored on the next play.

Then came another bad sequence. Francom was sacked on Payson's next possession and the Lions were forced to punt. Thompson fielded the high kick at midfield, raced right, turned back left, then up the middle before sprinting toward the sideline and past Payson's defenders to paydirt. In less than three minutes time, Lehi went from nine points down to five points up.

"We just made some crucial mistakes at crucial times, and you can't do that against good teams," Knight said.

But Payson fought back quickly and marched 77 yards on 10 plays to regain the lead 24-21 with under a minute remaining in the third. Two crucial Lehi penalties, one on a fourth-down play, put the Lions in scoring position. The cappers were a 20-yard pass from Francom to Callen Finch and a 12-yard scoring strike to Nate Quist. That was Payson's final score, however, and Lehi sealed the game with two fourth-quarter interceptions — Thompson's and one late by McKay Condie.

"I've seen good things from this team for two years, but I want to win. We have to quit making mistakes when we get in position to win," Knight said.