Maple Mountain football muscles past Springville | News, Sports, Jobs

Over the years Maple Mountain football has been known more of a finesse team. But under second-year head coach Kalin Hall, the Golden Eagles have changed their tenor becoming a more physical squad and it showed as Maple Mountain outmuscled Springville 41-14 in a 5A Region 7 match-up Friday night.

The home team could do little wrong on Senior Night as Maple Mountain dominated in the trenches, letting running back Eli Mauga run wild as the senior scored two touchdowns. Mauga was quick to compliment his coaches and the entire team for its preparation.

“That’s all up to our coaches,” Mauga said. “The whole team had to just execute. That’s all it really was. We knew we had to play more physical and we did.”

Mauga scored Maple Mountain’s first touchdown on a 4-yard run but that was after he ripped off a 34-yarder to start the game that really set the tone.

Maple Mountain’s lead was short lived as Jack Pickering electrified the visiting Red Devil fans with a 99-yard kickoff return to knot the score 7-7.

But Maple Mountain struck back with two more first-quarter touchdowns as Mason Jensen connected with Sawyer Leifson on a 10-yard score. Then Jensen found Brooks Ross behind the Red Devil defenders for a 41-yard touchdown.

Fernando Banuelos tacked on a 35-yard field goal in the second quarter to give Maple Mountain a 24-7 lead, though Pickering scored his second touchdown on the night hauling in a 4-yard pass from Easton Leavitt. When Jonathan Zafra was true on the extra point for the Red Devils, it cut the Maple Mountain lead to 24-14 going into the halftime break.

Maple Mountain totally controlled the second half with its offensive line led by the likes of Gavin Jepsen, Zachary Jensen, Tate Sumsion, Caide Bingham, Jay Diediker, and Taio Fano.

When Mason Jensen was knocked out of the game on a roughing the passer penalty, wide receiver Sawyer Leifson, a former quarterback in the program, stepped in and scored on a 15-yard run on a read option.

“It feels absolutely amazing,” Leifson said, celebrating with the raucous student body after the game. “This community deserves it.”

Leifson knew just how big this win was against a longtime rival. It was just the third win Maple Mountain has had against Springville in the last 10 seasons.

“It feels great to be on the winning side,” Leifson said. “My sophomore year we got worked 74-20. I played quarterback that game so I was glad (this time) to be on the winning side and finally get the Red Devils.”

On his touchdown Leifson gave credit to that offensive line.

“My linemen opened up a hole that a semi (truck) could fit through,” Leifson said. “I was grateful for those guys.”

And while Maple Mountain’s offense was doing its thing, its defense was dominant as well. The defensive line of Jag Iaone, Seth Kropf, Daniel Bishop, and Austin Adams controlled the line of scrimmage allowing linebacker Tiger Frakes to have a big night.

Maple Mountain tacked on 10 more points in the final stanza as Mauga scored on a 34-yard romp which just set up perhaps the most fun score of the night for the Golden Eagles.

With less than two minutes left, Banuelos nailed a school-record 55-yard field goal that looked like it might have been good from 60 yards. As he returned to the sidelines he was mobbed by his teammates.

“I was telling him (Coach Hall), ‘give me the kick, I got it,’” Banuelos said.

Banuelos, a senior, is glad he joined the football team last year and has become one of the better kickers in the state.

“It’s awesome,” Banuelos said. “All glory to god. This is an awesome team we have. We’re doing what we hoped to be doing and it feels good.”

For Hall, this was not just a big win in the Region 7 standings but it’s an important step for the program.

“There are things we want to accomplish with this program,” Hall said. “We want to be the Corner Canyon of south (Utah) county. We want real football players to be here because that’s where we’re going to be at.”

Maple Mountain (7-1, 3-1) will conclude its regular season next Thursday when it visits Timpview (4-2, 3-0). If Maple Mountain can upset the Thunderbirds and then Timpview beats Orem in the following week, the Golden Eagles could still tie for the league title.

Springville (5-3, 2-2) will hope to bounce back as it takes on Orem (7-1, 3-0), also on Thursday. Both games will start at 7 p.m.