High school football: Provo turning into a team to beat

PROVO — The Provo Bulldogs, now 4-1 on the season, have enjoyed being off the radar of teams-to-beat in Class 4A and Region 7.

But with Friday's 21-7 victory over Timpanogos, which also puts the Bulldogs at 2-0 in league play and in solid control of their playoff future, teams probably won't be taking Provo lightly any more.

"It's been a while since Provo has been in this position, so it's a good feeling. But we still have a lot of business ahead of us that we need to take care," Bulldog quarterback Matt Griner said after his team's 21 first-half points held up.

In fact, all of the scoring came before intermission as neither team could generate much in the final two quarters. Anything they did produce in the second half went to waste.

The real difference in the game was Provo's ability to take advantage of its breaks and field position in the first half. The Timberwolves, on the other hand, had good stretches of moving the football, but struggled to sustain consistent drives and stalled out more than once inside Provo territory.

"I don't know how many times our defense saved us tonight, but it sure seemed like a lot," Griner said.

Five plays into the game, and after three quick first downs by Timpanogos, the T-Wolves coughed up the football and the Bulldogs recovered near midfield. Six plays later Griner hit speedster Maka Unufe on a quick lateral and Unufe burst past Timpanogos' defenders for an 11-yard TD run. The fumbled snap on the extra point left Provo up 6-0.

The Bulldogs were forced to punt on their next possession, and Timpanogos took over near midfield. Two nice passes from Brooks Fowler to J.D. Ashman and Braden Nickle put the T-Wolves on the 22-yard line. Then, on a third-and-10, Fowler did an excellent job of selling a pass to the outside to draw Provo's defenders away from the middle, and then hit Ryan Hamilton sneaking over the middle on a quick hit and he ran untouched into the end zone.

On Provo's ensuing drive, the Bulldogs went to the ground with Griner and Kyler Hamilton moving the ball down to the 13-yard line, where Griner then found tight end Josh Roberts for a 12-yard gain to the one. On the next play Griner pushed into the end zone on a keeper. A two-point run by Hamilton put Provo up 14-7.

"Our rushing game was awesome tonight. It's what got us through because I struggled a bit throwing the ball, but we'll get better at that before next week," Griner said.