After 4 first-half turnovers, Orem shook off the early struggles and took off within the second half to prime Bountiful 35-25 within the second spherical of the 5A playoffs on Friday.
“It’s OK to get knocked down. Don’t get knocked out,” Orem coach Gabe Sewell mentioned. “That was the mentality we had popping out. We tidied up a couple of issues, made some changes and got here out away with the (win).”
Bountiful jumped everywhere in the Tigers from the opening kick. Rhett Smith opened the scoring with a 42-yard pick-six, sniffing out an Orem display cross, tipping the deflection to himself and rumbling for the rating in the wrong way.
Orem’s offense was on the sphere for less than one other two performs earlier than a sideline catch was fumbled ahead into the ready fingers of Redhawks defensive again Ford Creswell.
Bountiful capitalized the following play as Corbin Cottle drew up the center and minimize exterior for a 48-yard dashing rating to place the Redhawks up 14-0 with 9:37 left within the first quarter.
The Tigers’ offense settled in and quarterback Lance Reynolds engineered a 12-play drive capped with a 5-yard Tru To’a landing rumble to make it 14-7 with 4:12 remaining within the opening quarter.
Bountiful’s offense stalled for a punt, however Orem’s ball safety points appeared once more as To’a fumbled at midfield. The Redhawks took benefit and knocked via a 22-yard subject aim for the 17-7 lead.
Orem drove contained in the 25 yard-line, however one other tried reception tipped to Kaden Mertz. Bountiful suffered its first main mistake of the sport in response as Eniasi Matina grabbed a tipped display for Orem and careened 24 yards for prime subject place.
“I simply noticed the display and he tipped that and I used to be like ‘Oh nope, it’s not touching the bottom,’ so I took that,” Matina mentioned. “I ought to have scored, however I used to be so gassed.”
Cole Johnson waltzed into the top zone from a yard out one play later and the Tigers restricted the early turnover harm and narrowed the deficit to 17-14 to shut out the primary half.
Reynolds tossed the Tigers’ fifth and ultimate turnover of the night time earlier than flipping the change because the third quarter dawned.
After a Bountiful punt, the junior passer responded with a nine-play drive punctuated with a wonderfully lofted ball to the again nook of the top zone to Asher Younger for a 19-yard landing and the primary Orem lead of the night time, 21-17.
The Orem protection got here up with an enormous play on the following Redhawks drive, punching out the ball on an Owen Geilman scramble. Reynolds capitalized once more a short while later, discovering tight finish Roger Saleapaga with a 20-yard play motion faux bullet for the 28-17 benefit with 7:45 left within the sport.
“It wasn’t an important throw, however he went out and made the play,” Reynolds mentioned. “Simply having belief in these receivers to make the performs, they’re nice receivers.”
Bountiful got here again to life with a bomb from Geilman to Sam Stevenson earlier than offensive lineman Freddie Fekitoa punched in a 1-yard rating. Geilman discovered Faletau Satuala for the two-point conversion catch to slim the deficit to a subject aim, 28-25, with 5:29 left within the fourth.
The Redhawks protection compelled a punt, however muffed the following return to provide Orem a brief subject and the final phrase on a 4-yard Johnson scoring dive to shut it out, 35-25.
Because the postseason subject narrows to one of the best groups within the state, Sewell mentioned he’s emphasizing greater than ever to concentrate on blocking out the adversity and surviving to the following play.
“They cleaned up a whole lot of the early errors that we made that allowed for turnovers,” Sewell mentioned. “All in all, I’ll take a win any approach I can get it.”