High school football: Pleasant Grove claims share of Region 4 title

PLEASANT GROVE — From the opening day of practice the No. 1 goal of the Pleasant Grove Vikings was to win the Region 4 championship and earn the league's No. 1 seed into the playoffs.

With Wednesday's 24-0 win over rival American Fork, the Vikings have accomplished both. Actually, in theory they could still finish tied for the league championship if they somehow lose next week to last-place Lehi, but the Vikings would get the top seed by virtue of their wins over Lone Peak and Spanish Fork.

"I think we've played some pretty good football teams in our region, and I think this is a respect to our guys and I'd say an honor," Pleasant Grove coach Dale Sampson said.

On the other side, the Cavemen

were eliminated from the post season Wednesday with the loss and by wins by Spanish Fork and Lone Peak. Prior to last week American Fork had gone 77 straight games without being shut out. Now the Cavemen have been blanked twice in a row.

"Our defense gave us that look that we expected," Sampson said.

Actually, the total yards and several other statistics were not that far apart. The Vikings had 229 yards to 170 for American Fork. The Cavemen turned the ball over three times, one a fumble and two interceptions, while the Vikings fumbled the ball away twice. Pleasant Grove's passing numbers were a little better with Dallas Lloyd going 6-of-10 for 73 yards, to American Fork QB Jordan Lusk's 3-of-15 for 51 yards.

The real difference in the game was Pleasant Grove's ability to finish off a drive, while American Fork's two best drives ended in no reward.

"Though we bended a little bit, we didn't break," Sampson said.

The Vikings got on top early when a nine-play drive ended on a 45-yard field goal by Josue Meza. Following a poor punt by the Cavemen, the Vikings then added a five-play 27-yard scoring drive that was capped by LeSean Wilcox's 2-yard run. Pleasant Grove went up 17-0 late in the second when a 21-yard run by Joey Owens and a 21-yard reception by Sefa Tanoai set up a 1-yard TD plunge by Owens.

It looked like the Cavemen were going to finish the half on a positive note marching down to Pleasant Grove's 14-yard line. But they came away empty following four straight incomplete passes.

Neither team got much going in the third until late when the Cavemen began a long and time-consuming drive that ate up almost seven minutes of clock on 19 plays. But after getting all the way down to Pleasant Grove's 13, an illegal-block call pushed the Cavemen back and two incomplete passes and a sack ended the threat.

Pleasant Grove sealed the game by going 58 yards in eight plays on its final drive, with Lloyd diving in from one yard out in the final two minutes.

"I thought our ball control offense was pretty effective tonight," Sampson said.

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