Emery Spartans get homecoming victory

By GARY ARRINGTON

After having lost a heartbreaker the week before, the Emery High Spartans responded by playing perhaps their best game of the season in a homecoming victory over the North Sevier Wolves. The defending 2-A state champion Manti defeated Emery 15-14 with a score at the end of the game. Emery then ran over the Wolves 48-12 last Friday night. Emery scored twice in the first quarter, twice in the second quarter, twice in the third quarter and one final time in the fourth quarter. North Sevier scored twice in the final quarter to get their only points of the game. Jared Shakespaere scored the first of his two touchdowns in the game with an eight yard run. Cory Cox kicked the first of six straight extra points. Safety David Dyer scored the Spartans next touchdown on an interception at the North Sevier 49-yard line. The score was 14-0 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Emery scored their third touchdown on a 10-yard pass play from quarterback Spencer Labrum to wingback Dyer. Shakespaere then scored his second touchdown of the game on Emery’s next possession on a 5-yard run. Emery now led 28-0 at the half. Emery came right out in the third quarter and scored again on the first possession of the period. Emery marched down the field and Dyer scored his third touchdown of the game on a 6-yard run. Tanner Lake added a score on a 12-yard run and the score at the end of the third quarter was 42-0.
In the final period, North Sevier scored twice against Emery with the Spartans scoring once in the middle of the two touchdowns. With Emery playing many different players after amassing a big lead, Casey Morris scored for the Spartans on a 7-yard run. This time the extra point was missed. Neither of the Wolves point after attempts was good in the game.
David Dyer led Emery with 93 yards on the ground on 11 rushes. Tanner Lake carried the ball also 11 times and Lake picked up 72 yards. Jared Shakespaere ran the ball seven times and gained 61 yards. As a team, Emery gained 275 yards on the ground in the game.
Spencer Labrum attempted nine passes in the game and completed five of those passes. Dyer caught two of those passes as did Bailey Faimalo. Faimalo had an absolutely fantastic catch in front of the Emery bench as he went high in the air and caught the ball one handed. Tyler Pulli had the other completion.
Linebacker Taylor Weihing led the Spartans defensively with nine tackles. Linebacker Slayde Childs and defensive end Kayden Feichko each had seven tackles in the game. Defensive end Nick Arizmendi, corner back Pulli, linebacker Cle Richards and tackle Duncan Thomas each had five tackles in the game.
Against Manti, this game was a game of two halves and two different teams. In the first half, Emery seemed to do everything right and jumped out to a 14-0 half time lead. Both offensively and defensively, Emery controlled the game and went to the half ahead.
In the second half, Emery had trouble getting anything going on offense. Manti scored for the second time with just over a minute left in the game and made the decision to go for the win instead of a tie on the point after attempt. A pass into the left side of the end zone was good and Manti led for the first time in the game. Emery had one more shot but was unable to score.
In this game, Marco Mota scored the first touchdown on a 4-yard run and Faimalo scored the second touchdown on a pass from Labrum that covered 34 yards. This was the only pass completion of the game. Lake picked up 51 yards on the ground, Mota gained 44 yards before he left the game in the second quarter with a shoulder injury and Dyer gained 38 yards. After three straight games at home, Emery will travel this week to ALA in Spanish Fork for a Friday night region game.