Wasps sting Spartans in second round of state playoffs

Vallyn Bernard

It’s been about eight years since the Spartans have made it to the second round of the playoffs, so Emery had no seasoned post-season players. Yet that didn’t seem to matter to the Spartans when they took the opening kickoff in Heber Friday night.

With simple in your face football the Spartans marched down the field with the Wasps appearing completely lost as to how the stop them. A fumble deep in Wasp territory ended the drive, but Emery’s defense held Wasatch to three an out. On the next series the Spartans again methodically drove down field. In route Skyler Jorgensen made a nice grab on a pass from Dempsey Jeffs for 26 yards before Ryne Jones punched it in from 7 yards out to give Emery a 6 – 0 lead. Gatlan Huntington kicked the extra point, and the Wasps were on their heels.

A poor kickoff gave the Wasps great field position which led to them quickly tying the game. After the Spartans got the ball, on first down they got a holding call giving them first and twenty near midfield. A couple plays later disaster struck when a play calling for a pitch back to Jeffs went south, literally. The Wasp defense read the play well, causing a fumble, which they recovered and ran back for a score. Giving them the lead 14–7.

More than recovering the fumble and scoring, this miscue by the Spartans allowed the Wasps to gain some confidence, and got the home crowd back into the game. Momentum was now with Wasatch, and they took advantage of it.

The Spartans had more total offense, 329 yards, than the Wasps and the defense was able to hold the number one rusher in the state to less than 100 yards. It was not being able to hang onto the ball that hurt the Spartans, who gave up three fumbles, and two interceptions, with two of these turnovers being run back for touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, the Wasps had only one turnover.

Mike Jones carried the ball 22 times for 120 yards with Ryne Jones handling the ball 13 times for 85 yards and one touchdown before leaving the game with an injury. Jordan Gee scored the Spartans final touchdown of the season on a four yard run late in the game, but the Wasps took the game with a final score of 38-14.

Many loyal Spartan fans made the long drive to Heber for Emery’s final game. It was hard to see the season come to a close, but the Spartans have moved their football to a new level. It has been too long since they have known a winning season. The men in Black and Gold, along with Coach Jones and his staff, have changed that this year. The final score is 7 for the Spartans and 5 for the other guys.