5A high school football playoffs: Silver Wolves advance with victory over Vikings

PLAIN CITY — The Fremont Silver Wolves advanced to the 5A quarterfinals Saturday afternoon with a convincing 29-6 victory over the Pleasant Grove Vikings.

With the win, Fremont has now rolled together an impressive nine-game winning streak. However, Fremont head football coach Kory Bosgieter has a different approach to his team's current streak.

"We don't think of it as a streak. We think of it (the playoffs) as a new season where anything can happen and this is game one," said a smiling Bosgieter. "We have some great kids out there and they'll fight till the end."

After a back-and-forth first quarter where both teams exchanged possessions and battled for field position, the Silver Wolves struck first on their first possession of the second quarter.

Fremont chewed five minutes off the clock on a 56-yard drive which was capitalized by a trick play where running back Nick Vigil found quarterback Aaron Van Woerkom unguarded on the far side of the field for an eight-yard touchdown pass. On Pleasant Grove's next possession, Fremont linebacker Bryan Thompson came up with his second of three turnovers in the game, intercepting Viking quarterback Paul Hatch on the Pleasant Grove 23-yard line.

Three plays later, Fremont struck gold again with a 12-yard pass from Van Woerkom, who found the soft hands of tight end Brock Smith. A high snap forced Fremont kicker Cash Hancock to complete a pass to Bo Smith in the end zone for the two-point conversion, and Fremont carried a 15-0 lead into the half.

Fremont's stingy defense held the Vikings to just 85 yards from scrimmage in the first half. Fremont's defensive front line stifled the Viking offense and got them out of rhythm.

Fremont took the ball in the second half and put together an eight-play drive before it fizzled and the Wolves turned the ball over on downs.

Pleasant Grove showed some heart in the third quarter with its captain and defensive leader Austin Heder making some bruising tackles. However, Fremont scored again with less than two minutes remaining in the third period when Vigil picked up his second touchdown of the game on an 8-yard pass from Van Woerkom to make it 22-0.

Rowdy Stucki iced the game for Fremont in the fourth quarter when he took a 33-yard pass from Van Woerkom over the middle, bounced off two defenders and, after getting hit hard, scrambled towards the sideline and made a great leap into the end zone for the touchdown.

Pleasant Grove got on the board with less than two minutes remaining in the game when Hatch found wide receiver McKay Madsen for a 53-yard rumble.

"Take nothing away from Pleasant Grove; they played their guts out today, but it's pretty tough to play three games in eight days," said Bosgieter.