Wasatch breaks a 9-year
spell crushing Park City 49-14
BY KENNY BRISTOW
Wave Sports Writer
The Wasatch Wasps visited Dozier Field in Park City last
Friday night and handily put a 49-14 beat down on the Miners finishing a fine
2012 regular football season with an 8-2 record. Beyond just the season-ending victory, however, was the
snapping of a nine game losing streak to Park City, dating back to 2002. A beaming Craig Davis, the Wasp’s
offensive coordinator, who has weathered 7 of the losses as a member of the
Wasatch coaching staff said, “This one feels good. I’m just really happy for the seniors. They earned this one.”
And earned it, they did, despite some surreal moments in the
game where the officiating seemed to be keeping the Wasps in check. Several questionable penalties were
called against Wasatch this night, with a few of them coming as dead ball fouls
and only after a successful Wasatch play.
One mysterious penalty, even though the game was completely over, came
after a 79-yard interception return for a touchdown by Josh Brown as time
expired. As a jubilant Wasatch
sideline cheered on the final play of the game, an official stood at midfield,
yellow flag at his feet, giving a half-hearted holding penalty gesture against
Wasatch. The interception would
stand, but the touchdown would not.
A frustrated Park City player then shouted obscenities towards the Wasp
sideline, within earshot of that same referee, and the game’s mounting tension
had hit a boiling point. Cooler
heads prevailed, however, and the players and coaches dutifully carried out
their congratulatory handshakes at midfield without incident. No love lost between these two rivals
though. Wasatch had come to put an
end to the losing streak and nothing was going to stop that.
This really was not the story of this game, though, nor was
the season ending victory or the snapping of the losing streak. What was apparent on this night was the
total team effort by Wasatch. The
Wasps were impressive with their relentless gang-tackling toughness on defense
and their spreading of the wealth on offense. They ran the ball effectively mixing in plays for two of
their backs, Hunter Pella and Tate Berg, who scored a touchdown apiece. They used a shorter, ball-control
passing game, allowing quarterback James Delacensarie to find receivers underneath
the coverage allowing the line to create space downfield. That was exactly how Wasatch got on the
board first. On the first play of
their second possession, Delacensarie flicked the ball to Talem Franco on a
crossing route and the receiver took it to the house for a 75 yard touchdown. That tandem would work again later on
another 75 yard touchdown, with Franco showing untouchable breakaway speed. Delacensarie also twice found wide
receiver Gavin Nebeker for touchdowns of 15 and 50 yards respectively. Nebeker continued his fantastic season
as one of the Wasp’s big play receivers as his two touchdown receptions put him
in a tie as the leader in 3A with 12.
Wasatch’s other touchdown of the night was scored from the defensive
side of the ball when Kayden Conner intercepted a pass and returned it 14 yards
the other way. Cooper Ballsaedt, Anderson
Davis and Taggart Baxter, who gathered 13 tackles despite playing on a sprained
ankle, also had interceptions for the Wasps.
Walking off the field after the game, Head Coach Steve
Coburn praised his team’s toughness and ability to keep their emotions under
control. Shaking his head he said,
“There were some questionable calls going on out there that seemed to help the
other team, but we don’t want to focus on that. We will never use officiating as an excuse. The good news is we come out of here with
a big win and I’m proud of our guys.”
Coburn, at one point, had been warned by the referees to stop arguing
the calls or his team would be further penalized. That did not sit well with the fiery coach and may have been
the basis for his inspired post-game speech as he credited his guys for their
hard fought win, then ordered them into the film room Saturday morning. Coburn has a talented team firing on
all cylinders and he is determined to take the Wasps as far as they can go into
this post-season.
That post-season journey begins Friday night at Wright-Tree
Stadium, where the Wasps, who secured a spot in the upper bracket, host Bear
River. The early kick-off is
scheduled for 5:00 PM.
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