OREM — With the Region 7 title and playoff seeding on the line, quarterback Tucker Camp and the Orem Tigers came up big Thursday night against crosstown rival Timpanogos.
After Timpanogos tied the game at 13-13 midway through the second quarter, Orem outscored the Timberwolves 30-6 to capture a 43-19 win and at least a share of the region title, pending the outcome of other region games on Friday night.
“Our kids knew that this was a big game,” said Orem coach Tyler Anderson. “If Timpanogos wins they’ll get the third seed and we’d be fourth, so our kids came out and played well.”
Camp was instrumental in the Tigers' win with three touchdown passes (to three different receivers) and two rushing touchdowns.
“He (Camp) played great today,” said Anderson. “He did a lot of good things for us — both with his legs and his arm. He made a lot of good reads and it was a good game by him.”
It was clear from the early going that this was going to be a high-scoring affair. Although the Tigers never trailed, they traded touchdowns with the T-Wolves through most of the first half.
Camp put the Tigers on the board first with a 1-yard touchdown run, but the T-Wolves answered on their next possession when Jackson Dunford connected with Mason Day on a 9-yard touchdown pass.
Orem’s next possession resulted in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Camp to Nolan Gray, but the T-Wolves responded again midway through the second quarter when Dunford found Sorenson for a 9-yard touchdown pass to knot the game at 13-13.
The Tigers got some breathing room by scoring twice more before the intermission. The first score came on a 2-yard run by James Wadsworth and the second came with only 15 seconds remaining in the half on a Camp-to-Parker Overly pass from 11 yards out. A key play on the Tigers' final drive before halftime came on a fourth-and-6 play where Camp found Gray for 26 yards on the sideline to keep the drive alive.
Orem’s Josh Evans pushed the lead to 30-13 midway through the third quarter with a 30-yard field goal.
Timpanogos looked like it might rally when Trayce Esteban caught another touchdown pass from Dunford, his third TD pass on the night, from 35 yards out to pull within 11 at 30-19. The T-Wolves forced a turnover on Orem’s next possession, but Garrett Cook intercepted Dunford with 5:56 remaining to turn the momentum back to the Tigers.
Orem took advantage of the turnover by driving down to the Timpanogos 1, where Camp ran in for the score. The Tigers added one more touchdown on an 80-yard pass from Camp to Nic Anderson with only 1:18 remaining.
“I think we’re on a little bit of a roll here,” said Anderson. “The last three games we’ve won with two on the road. I think our kids are peaking at the right time.”
Orem improved to 5-5 overall and 5-1 in region play, while Timpanogos fell to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in region play.
Drew Daniels is a Utah County native and has covered local sporting events for several news organizations including the Deseret News since 1988.