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SPRINGVILLE — After sleeping through a scoreless first half, Springville High's offense woke up with two second-half touchdowns and led rival Maple Mountain 14-7 with 30 seconds left in the game.
Then Golden Eagles quarterback Jaren Hall found Dawson Beautler for a 36-yard touchdown pass, and the Red Devils were in danger of losing their first game of 2015.
Up stepped senior lineman Sai Atiifale.
Atiifale broke through the Maple Mountain line, reached high with both hands and slammed the PAT attempt to the turf to help Springville open Region 8 play with a 14-13 win over its crosstown rival.
"It was mostly just instinct," Atiifale said of the game-saving play. "Everybody knew that we had to stop the PAT before it went to overtime. It just came down to putting it all out there."
Adam Rodriguez ran the ball three times for 35 yards and two touchdowns, and Bryce Nelson added 109 yards on 20 carries to lead the Red Devils (4-0, 1-0 Region 8).
Jantsen Thorpe completed 6-of-12 passes for 53 yards, including 39 yards to Tanner Perrero.
Rodriguez's two touchdowns gave the Red Devils all the scoring they would need, though. The senior scored on a two-yard dive with 6:54 left in the third quarter to open the scoring for both teams, and the Red Devils took a 6-0 lead into the final period.
Rodriguez added his second touchdown on the opening drive of the fourth quarter, breaking a half-dozen tackles before dicing through the defense and into the end zone from 20-yards out with 10:54 left to put the home team on top, 14-0.
"We just put that (play) in this weekend and we hoped it would work," Rodriguez said. "But I've got to give it all to the hogs up front. They helped me break the tackles."
That's when Hall woke up. Even after the Red Devil defense got to the BYU-bound quarterback six times, Hall nearly led a two-touchdown comeback in the game's final nine minutes.
Hall — who has committed to BYU where his father Jalen was a special teams standout — rallied his team in the final 10 minutes.
The senior first found Austin Edwards for a four-yard TD toss with 8:29 left to play to pull within 14-7, but a sack on the next offensive series by Rodriguez dropped Hall 26 yards for a loss that seemed to evaporate hope.
Then, a life line.
Driving in the last two minutes, Hall nailed four-straight passes to set up Beautler's 36-yard touchdown with 30 seconds left. All they needed was the PAT to send the game into overtime.
Expecting a fake and a two-point conversion, Atiifale erupted through the line, soared over the Maple Mountain blockers and slapped down the kick to clinch the victory.
"It's amazing," a near-speechless Rodriguez said. "That's' probably the best competition we'll face. They shut down three top teams, and we shut them down to go to 1-0 (in region play). It's amazing."
Hall completed 17-of-31 passes for 196 yards along with his two touchdowns. Beautler had four catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.
Contributing: Rod Zundel
