High school football: Pleasant Grove finds groove vs. Timberwolves

PLEASANT GROVE — There's nothing like a big win over a close rival to put the icing on top of a homecoming game.

Pleasant Grove scored 20 unanswered points in its homecoming game Friday night to run away with a 27-7 win over rival Timpanogos.

LeaSean Wilcox ran for a touchdown and intercepted a key pass for the Vikings while teammate Dallas Lloyd threw for a touchdown and ran for another.

"The kids came to play," said Pleasant Grove coach Dale Sampson. "I didn't have to get them up for the game. They knew what the expectation was ... They're ready for region."

Defensively, the Vikings (5-1) stuck it to the Timberwolves (2-3), who struggled all game to pick up first downs.

"Our defense all year has been bringing it," said Sampson. "We're just getting more confident. That was kind of a wild spread type offense we had to prepare for, but coach (Steve) Brady, our defensive coordinator, got those guys keyed up to play pretty hard defense."

The Vikings took advantage of a Timpanogos fumble on its first possession and turned it into a 7-0 lead when Wilcox capped a 64-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Timpanogos answered back with :29 remaining in the first quarter when quarterback Parker Brown got loose on a keeper around the end and rambled 69 yards for the game-tying touchdown. That was the last time the T-Wolves found their way inside the red zone.

Josue Meza kicked a 31-yard field goal in the second quarter to push the lead to 10-7. The Vikings' defense then forced the T-Wolves to turn the ball over on downs with less than a minute remaining in the first half when they sacked Brown while he was trying to punt. Lloyd took advantage of the key defensive play when he connected with Dalton Brady on a 16-yard touchdown pass to end the half up 17-7.

Early in the second half the momentum seemed like it was turning in favor of the T-Wolves when the T-Wolves' Jordan Pettis intercepted his second pass of the game to give Timpanogos an opportunity to pull within a field goal, but Wilcox responded with an interception of his own on the next play, which resulted in another Meza field goal, this one from 25 yards out.

"I think it was a turning point," said Sampson. "Then he returned it and gave us good field position. He's just a great football player helping us on both offense and defense."

Lloyd capped the scoring with a 10-yard touchdown run with only 3:13 remaining in the game.