Emery football picks up a win at American Leadership

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports Writer

For the second week in a row the Emery Spartan football team had a blowout region contest. The Spartans easily defeated the American Leadership Academy Screaming Eagles in Spanish Fork by the score of 53-10. Joining Emery in big region wins last week were Manti, Millard and South Summit as the top four teams begin to separate themselves from the pack.
In this week’s Deseret News 2-A football rankings, San Juan at 5-0 and playing in the South region is ranked first. Manti at 4-1 is ranked second, South Summit at 4-1 is ranked third, Emery at 4-1 is ranked fourth and Millard at 4-1 is ranked fifth. Millard travels to Emery this Friday night while Manti travels to South Summit, the region picture will be clearer after this weekend.
Last week at ALA, Emery received the opening kickoff and promptly marched 61 yards down field in three plays and scored on a 21-yard run by David Dyer. After Cory Cox kicked the extra point, Emery led 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.
The Spartans held ALA in their first series of the game and forced a punt. The punt stopped at the Emery 2-yard line which apparently didn’t bother the Spartans as they marched down field 98 yards and scored again. Jared Shakespaere scored the first of his two touchdowns in the game on a run of 7 yards. Cox added another extra point kick and Emery led 14-0.
Emery’s third possession ended with a pass from Spencer Labrum to Bailey Faimalo that covered 23 yards. This touchdown came in the second quarter and after the extra point kick was blocked, Emery led 20-0.
After the Emery kickoff, ALA could not get much going offensively and were forced to punt from deep in their territory. Dyer blocked the punt and linebacker Cle Richards recovered the ball in the end zone for another Emery touchdown. Cox added the extra point and Emery led 27-0.
ALA kicked a 34-yard field goal in their next possession to finally get on the scoreboard. Emery led 27-3.
The Spartans would add two more touchdowns before the half. Shakespaere would score on another 7-yard run after the Spartans put together a 70-yard drive. Bailey Faimalo intercepted a pass on the Eagles next drive and that drive ended with Tyler Pulli scoring on a 17-yard run. Score at the half was 40-3.
In the second half, the clock ran continuously due to the high school mercy rule. In the second half, Emery would score twice more. Kayden Feichko would score on a 10-yard run and Otis Addison would score on a 37-yard run. ALA added a touchdown in their final possession of the game.
Emery had a total of 396 yards of total offense in the game with 338 of those yards coming on the ground. Dyer gained 73 yards on nine carries and scored a touchdown. Tanner Lake gained 73 yards on six carries. Shakespaere gained 66 yards on seven carries and scored two touchdowns. Addison gained 53 yards on three carries and scored a touchdown.
Emery completed two passes in five attempts in the game. Labrum connected with Faimalo on the 23-yard touchdown and also connected with Shakespaere on a 35-yard pass pickup.
Defensively in the game, Faimalo and Ridge Nielson had interceptions besides Dyer’s blocked punt. Slayde Childs led the team with eight tackles with Feichko right behind with seven tackles. Matt Mecham had six tackles, Dyer had five, Nick Arizmendi had four and Faimalo had three.
Millard will come to town this Friday night with the intention of knocking off the Spartans. Millard features a ground game led by the leading rusher in 2-A football, Jesse Rhodes. Rhodes has gained just more than 800 yards in the team’s first five games. The Spartans will need to slow him down in the game in order to secure the win.
The Spartans also have a fairly potent ground game. Dyer leads the Emery team with 473 yards, averaging 9.27 yards per carry. Dyer’s running mates in the backfield have also been running well. Lake has gained 275 yards with an average of 6.25 yards per carry, Shakespaere has gained 254 yards with and 8.47 average and Marco Mota, who has missed a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury, has gained 212 yards with a 9.22 average.
Game time this Friday night is 7 p.m. at the Spartan field.