Prep football: Kicker boots Alta to big victory

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Alta TE Stepehn Richards jumps trying to gain yards against the Pleasant Grove defense. Viking DB Steve Westover (#5; left) makes the tackle. Pleasant Grove led Alta 13-7 at halftime, Friday.

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Pleasant Grove » From the quarterbacks, to the defensive lines, to the secondaries, to the coaching staffs. One would be hard-pressed to find two teams more evenly matched than Alta and Pleasant Grove.

The difference on Friday night? Alta had a 5-foot-5 kicker named Vance "Moose" Bingham. Pleasant Grove didn't.

Bingham, doing his best Louie Sakoda imitation, hit a 40-yard field goal to give the Hawks a 23-20 overtime win in front of a standing room only crowd at Pleasant Grove. And that was hardly his only heroic moment. Bingham sent the game into the extra session by hitting a 37-yarder with 10 seconds remaining in regulation. He hit a 44-yarder midway through the third

The game-winner was set up when Alta blocked a Pleasant Grove field goal attempt on the previous possession.

"Pressure is fine with me," Bingham said moments after being mobbed by his teammates. "I want the game on my shoulders, I was happy to have the chance and happy to be able to deliver."

With the win, Alta takes a piece of the Region 4 title, which it will share with Lone Peak. Even more important, the Hawks, by virtue of a win over Lone Peak, will be the first seed in the upcoming playoffs, which means two home games.

Pleasant Grove, which had been unbeaten all season until the last two weeks, suddenly finds itself with a number three seed, and will be forced to play on the road next week,

"Obviously getting that top seed is huge," Alta coach Les Hamilton said. "If we had lost, there was a chance we would've had to play Bingham in the first round. I think our record at home speaks for itself. We're comfortable there."

The final score represented the first lead of the game for the Hawks. When Pleasant Grove's Kyle Tucker rumbled 63 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Vikings had a 20-10 lead and things looked bleak for an Alta team that had seen its offense stymied for most of the game.

But the Hawks came back and scored on six plays when Jordy Brown hit Stephen Richards for a touchdown to make the score 20-17. After another drive that ended when Bingham missed from 49 yards, the Hawks defense forced a stop and got the ball back with two minutes remaining.

On that drive, Alta converted on a fourth down and 12 when Brown hit Zach Liston for 29 yards. The game-tying field goal was set up by a screen pass to Skyler Mayne that went for 17 yards.

tjones@sltrib.com