The clock did not expire a moment too soon for Orem in the Tigers’ 17-14 victory over Springville Friday evening.
The first region contest of the season for both teams unnecessarily came down to the wire as Orem’s missteps nearly cost the home side the game against the lone unbeaten Region 7 squad.
“I think we played horrible, to be honest,” Orem head coach Lance Reynolds said candidly. “That’s on me. I didn’t have them ready, apparently. But … the things that we are doing, it’s not effort issues, it’s not desire issues. It’s just lack of execution all the way around and not having a very high football IQ.”
The biggest blunder may have come with under a minute left in the game when Orem opted to run a play on first down instead of kneeling the clock out when Springville was out of timeouts. The play resulted in a fumble recovered by the Red Devils.
“I probably should have knelt it,” Reynolds said. “(But) I don’t understand why we were reaching out. It’s not like we were reaching for the first down or the goal line.”
Springville worked its way inside the Orem 40 yard line before the clock expired on a completed pass that the two sides wrestled over.
The ensuing delay, much to the chagrin of the visiting sideline, made it impossible for referees to get the ball spotted before the game came to a close.
“We got to do a better job,” Reynolds said. “Hats off to Springville. They came in here, played great and just out-physicaled us for a lot of the night.”
Still, the Red Devils’ methodical, run-heavy offense looked left for dead after a rare throw resulted in an interception, giving the Tigers a short field that turned into a touchdown moments later.
Orem senior quarterback Tayden Ka’awa connected with senior wideout Kaue Akana for the 15-yard score to give Orem a 10-point lead.
“We just kept trying to find ways to get it to Kaue,” Reynolds said. “Fortunately, it worked.”
Following the interception and Tiger touchdown, Springville stretched its next drive into the fourth quarter before getting a field goal blocked.
That kept the Red Devils offense scoreless, Springville’s only score up to that point coming on the first play of the game — a 95-yard kick return from senior return man Zachary Henderson.
Orem tied the game on its first drive, Ka’awa finding senior tight end Kai Wesley for a 51-yard touchdown.
The scoring was almost non-existent for the two Region 7 schools after that, going to halftime 10-7 in favor of the Tigers.
The next points didn’t come until Orem’s interception and Akana’s touchdown.
Springville’s last score came on an 87-yard pass from senior quarterback Beau Halvorsen to Henderson.
“This should be … a little reality check for us that anybody can beat you if you play that crappy,” Reynolds said. “We’ve got to do a lot better with how we execute, how we move the ball, and then defense has got to play a little more stout and be a little more assignment sound.”
Both teams will look to improve next Friday when they resume region play.
Springville will return home for a matchup with Pleasant Grove while Orem travels to Spanish Fork.
The two contests will begin at 7 p.m.