4A high school football preview: Spanish Fork at Bountiful

Spanish Fork (7-3) at Bountiful (8-3)

4A state tournament quarterfinal

Friday, 4 p.m.

Parry's Power Guide: Bountiful by 14

All-time series: Bountiful leads 4-1

Coach vs. Coach: Bountiful's Larry Wall leads Spanish Fork's Matt Christensen, 2-0

Last meeting: Aug. 27, 2010 — Bountiful 10, Spanish Fork 7

BOUNTIFUL — Slowing down Spanish Fork's offense is not an easy task.

The Dons proved as much in a 56-48 triple overtime victory over Mountain View last week. Every time the Bruins staked out a lead on Spanish Fork, the Dons came roaring back behind the passing of Hayden Nielsen and running of P.J. Inoke.

Mountain View's upset bid finally met an end when Nielsen connected with Luigy Palino on a 38-yard TD pass in the third overtime.

Now, the challenge for Bountiful is finding a way to contain an offense which has tallied 30 points or more in eight games this season when the two teams face off for a second time this fall in the 4A quarterfinal round on Friday.

"They put up a lot of points against just about everybody, so we'll have to be at our best," Braves coach Larry Wall said.

Actually, Bountiful is one team Spanish Fork could not overwhelm with its offense.

When the two teams first played during the second week of the regular season, the Braves escaped with a 10-7 victory. The Braves stopped the Dons inside the red zone on three separate drives to rally from a 7-0 halftime deficit and held them to just 213 yards of total offense.

Nielsen had one his worst games statistically, throwing for just 169 yards and a touchdown on 10-of-24 passing.

"We just tried to keep everything in front of us and not give them the big play," Wall said. "They are a team that can score really fast and on big plays."

Bountiful has shown a penchant for doing the same the past few weeks.