Penalties late in the game hurt chances of securing a victory

After a blocked punt by Jordon Biorge, Tooele had the ball deep in Cyprus territory and a 14-10 lead with just over seven minutes left in the game and the Buffs were staring down a season-opening victory.

Tooele however was forced to give the ball back to the Pirates who then drove 66 yards down the field to toss in the winning score with only 26.1 seconds remaining. Tooele tried a couple passes but fell short in a 17-14 loss to Cyprus.

Chris Iorg completed 10 of 18 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown in the game while his most thrown to receiver, Jordan Clemente, hauled in four receptions for 49 yards. The workhorse on the team was Biorge, who not only got the job done on defense but also ran the ball 15 times for 42 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

After receiving the opening kickoff, Tooele seemed to surprise the Cyprus defense with their triple option attack. Clemente reeled off a 25-yard run to begin the game then hauled in a 15-yard catch on a key third down but that drive stalled for Tooele when they turned the ball over on downs on the Cyprus 26 yard line.

In the first game of the season both teams are expected to be a bit rusty and things weren’t any different with both teams sharing a couple punts in the first quarter.

Cyprus returned a punt late in the first at the 50 yard line and were looking to score. Mostly running the ball Cyprus caught the Tooele defense creeping up on the run and called the half back pass. The play worked to perfection as Jordan Pulou took the hand off and fired a strike to a wide open Tyrel Hardman to break into the scoring column and take the 7-0 lead.

In the middle of the second quarter the Tooele defense pinned Cyprus in their own territory, forcing a punt. Tooele managed to return that punt all the way to the Cyprus 41 yard line. With the great field position, Tooele coach Ray Groth decided to hit the air.

It only took two completed passes to move 41 yards. Iorg fired a pass to Clemente for a 23 yard gain then dropped a little dump-off pass to Wade Heston. Heston managed to take that pass to the outside and turn the corner into the end zone and tie the game at 7-7. Having taken away the lead from Cyprus, Tooele was fired up going into halftime.

Cyprus had other plans as they came out for the second half. The Pirates sucked all the momentum out of the Tooele players and fans with a long 14-play drive that ate up almost eight minutes of the game clock. However, Tooele was able to stuff Cyprus and hold them to only a field goal, making it only a 10-7 game.

To start off the fourth quarter, Tooele returned a punt only one yard into their own territory looking to take the lead. A clutch fourth down reception by Clemente was such a close call that the referees had to measure to continue the Tooele drive. Cyprus helped out on the drive, adding an unsportsmanlike penalty.

A Travis Brady catch put the Buffaloes inside the Cyprus 10-yard line where Biorge did the dirty work with runs of five then a 4-yard score to give Tooele the 14-10 lead with 9:26 left in the game.

To seal the win Tooele only had to keep the Pirates out of the end zone. They looked primed for that goal, holding Cyprus to a 3-and-out and then Biorge smashed through the line for a blocked punt, giving Tooele the ball at the Cyprus 30-yard line.

Tooele however could not do anything with the ball and ended up moving 32 yards backward because of penalties. The penalties included three false start penalties and an intentional grounding penalty which gave Cyprus the ball at their own 44 instead of being buried in their own territory.

“Those penalties really hurt us,” said Groth. “Instead of them being near their own end zone, they got the ball at mid-field.”

From there Cyprus quarterback Chris Peel led his team deep into Tooele territory with five completed passes. With a first and goal at the Tooele goal line, the game appeared pretty wrapped up. But the Buffalo defense stuffed the first run and then made Pirate running back George Thomas fumble at the goal line but Cyprus recovered.

On third down, while Cyprus had Tooele looking for the run, the Pirates pulled a little play-action pass right into the waiting arms of Vinny Mirabelle for the game winning touchdown.

“I think they put in a great effort no matter what the score is,” said Groth. “The first half was trying to get a feel of the offense then in the second half I think we got the hang of it a little bit more.”

With the loss Tooele falls to 0-1 on the year and will now host West on Friday at 7 p.m.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com