Orem roars: Tigers crush rivals behind bruising defensive effort

OREM — For the fifth time in six years, Orem claimed bragging rights over its cross-town rival Mountain View — and this year it wasn't even close.

Putting together one of its most complete games of the season, the Tigers rolled to a 31-3 win on Friday and dominated every facet of the game.

Orem put together all of the big offensive plays, made all the big defensive stops, and forced all the big turnovers in its way to the win.

"The kids played well," said Orem coach Robert Steele. "Every win's fun but this is just a little extra topping on top of it. It's good to be able to wear your Orem stuff anywhere in the city. It's always been a really good battle."

The most impressive performance of the night came from the Orem defense. Mountain View hoped to control the line of scrimmage on offensive with a front five that outweighed Orem's defensive line by a total of 341 pounds. Instead, it was the Tigers defense that dominated, shutting down the run and pressuring and sacking the quarterback all night.

For the game, the Bruins scrapped together only 18 rushing yards and 82 yards of total offense. Most of the offensive yards came on a single drive in the first half. Orem's defense also forced five turnovers.

"We've got our quickness and we've got to make sure we do our assignments," said Steele. "The idea is the linemen just hold their ground and our linebackers are active. They've got to fly and get to the ball. (Mountain View) only had one long play. To have that kind of a thing all of the kids have to play that well."

On offense, Jake Balser headlined the game for Orem, rushing for more than 100 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Quarterback Jon Killpack had a touchdown rushing and passing.

After a scoreless and defensive first quarter, Mountain View was the first team to produce an offensive drive, taking the ball to Orem's five yard line. A 22-yard field goal by C.J. Garner ended up being the team's only points of the night.

Orem answered on its next drive when Balser took a handoff around the left side and slipped past the defense and down the sidelines for a 72-yard touchdown run.

Just before halftime, an interception set the Tigers up with good field position and Killpack ended a 33-yard drive with a 10-yard keeper straight up the middle for a score.

Nate Killpack added a field goal in the third quarter to make the score 17-3 before Orem ran away with two more touchdowns late in the game.