Font ResizePleasant Grove
When the captains met for the coin toss Friday night, Alta quarterback Jordan Brown made sure to hug Pleasant Grove's Dallas Lloyd.
The Vikings QB was experiencing a feeling only Brown could understand, dressing for a key game in his senior season but being unable to play because of a shoulder injury.
Brown himself was back in the Alta lineup after missing three games with a separated shoulder, and the Hawks would have not won this one without him.
Region 4's Shoulder Bowl went to Alta, 23-20. So did a share of the league championship, thanks as much to kicker Vance Bingham's right leg as Brown's right arm.
Bingham delivered a tying field goal in the last 10 seconds of regulation and the winning kick in overtime, after Brown did everything he could to keep the Hawks in the game.
Fill-in starter Donny Lewis played well enough for Pleasant Grove to win, but Brown eventually overcame his rust and everything the Vikings threw at him in what Alta coach Les Hamilton labeled "a gutsy performance."
It was certainly a memorable showing for the senior, except that he will have to learn more about it first. Brown was unable to remember much afterward, being dazed from a blow to the head that likely came near the end of regulation or in OT as he was positioning the Hawks for Bingham's clutch kicks.
The sequence he should commit to memory as Alta prepares for the Class 5A playoffs in pursuit
The Hawks needed an answer, and Brown delivered it. He completed all five of his passes, accounting for all 80 yards, on a touchdown drive that took less than a minute.
As of midway through the third period, Brown had completed only five of 15 passes for 58 yards, with PG showing him different looks and playing tight coverage. Suddenly, Brown and receiver Zach Liston made it look like August and September again for Alta. Brown finished 17 of 31 for 231 yards.
The Hawks' next drive was short-circuited by a holding penalty and a sack, and Bingham's long field-goal try fell just short. But the Hawks' defense gave Brown one last try. His 29-yard pass to Liston on fourth-and-11 from midfield kept the drive going, and a 17-yard completion on a screen play got Bingham close enough for the tying kick.
The Alta defense then made overtime easy for the offense, blocking the Vikings' field-goal try. By then, Brown had done enough, and Lloyd could only watch helplessly.
