Thompson's TD return sparks Pioneer triumph

LEHI — Midway through the fourth quarter and with the football game in the balance, Lehi's Tyson Thompson lit the fuse to spark Lehi to a 28-21 win over Region 8 rival North Sanpete. Actually, more than lighting the fuse, Thompson was the bomb.

After North Sanpete took advantage of a Lehi fumble in the fourth and turned it into a touchdown and seven-point lead, Thompson took the ensuing kickoff 95 yards to knot the scores up again and give Lehi a surge of needed momentum.

"The nice thing about having like Tyson is that they can turn a big play for you like that," said Lehi coach Joe Hayes. "The same kind of thing happened at American Fork last week where you could see some chins start to dip, but (the players) believed and went for it and good things happen."

After the big run back, Lehi's defense stopped North Sanpete setting up the final winning drive. Fullback Abe White, who finished with a game-high 134 yards, made the most of his shot at redemption after his fumble earlier in the fourth, by helping his team move down the field and running the winning touchdown in from the five with 24 seconds left on the clock.

"It sure felt good getting that score," White said. "I knew I had to get it in there. They keyed in on Tyson most of the night, so that opened things up for me in the middle."

North Sanpete almost shocked the celebrating crowd with seconds to go in the game when quarterback Kyle Poulsen just overthrew a wide open Trenton Anderson with a 40-yard bomb.

With two first-quarter fumble recoveries, Lehi jumped out early in the game by taking rather than giving like they did last week against American Fork where they gave up six turnovers.

After a bad Sanpete shotgun snap, Lehi's Travis Holland ripped the free ball away from North Sanpete's Poulsen on the Sanpete 2-yard line. Two plays later, White ran it in for the touchdown.

On the ensuing kickoff, North Sanpete's Tyson Church ran it back 45 yards. But on the first play of the drive, North Sanpete coughed it up again, with Lehi's T.J. Walker recovering on the Lehi 35. Using White's legs and Aaron Larson's arm (5-11 for 66 yards), Lehi steadily drove the ball down the field ending the drive with another White touchdown.

With the Hawks needing something to get them going, North Sanpete decided it was time to go to Church. Church, who finished with 22 carries for 111 yards, bruised his way up the field on play after play, but the Pioneers were able to hold the Hawks scoreless on the drive when Lehi's Justin Turner knocked down a fourth-down Sanpete pass on the Lehi 4-yard line.