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SPANISH FORK — Mason Jensen had heard plenty from others, but had yet to experience for himself Maple Mountain's football rivalry with Spanish Fork.
When he was finally introduced to the Dons on Friday night, the Eagles' transfer quarterback from Eastmark High in Mesa, Arizona, made quite the first impression.
Jensen threw for 322 yards and three touchdowns, and Maple Mountain delivered a 35-27 road victory over Spanish Fork to start the season 2-0.
"This is my first year at Maple Mountain, and I've heard a lot about this rivalry, and it was amazing getting that win," Jensen said. "It was a lot closer than it should've been, but we came out on top."
The game had plenty of drama infused into it — even aside from the one-possession score.
There was familiarity between the two schools, evidenced by the fact Maple Mountain's Eli Mauga and Easton Kojima were both Spanish Fork players a season ago.
Tensions were high throughout the game, with unsportsmanlike penalties going against both sides.
Jensen proved a steady presence, making two big plays in particular: A 75-yard touchdown pass to EJ Rich, and an eight-yard touchdown throw to Max Stonebraker on third-and-goal to give the visitors a 21-6 in the second quarter.
"I just tried to stay calm," Jensen said. "I just trust my receivers and my o-line, and I trust my receivers to get open. They're a bunch of studs."
The lead was extended to 35-13 in the second half, following two time-consuming, run-heavy drives from Maple Mountain that were capped by a one-yard touchdown run from Mauga and a five-yard reception from Jensen to Kojima, respectively.
"That's who we are. We're a ground-and-pound football team," Maple Mountain coach Kalin Hall said. "That's what we should do, every time we get on the field, if we execute the way we should execute."
However, Spanish Fork battled back, in both halves, to make the game exciting.
The Dons pulled off a crafty hook-and-ladder for a touchdown before halftime, taking back some momentum and cutting the deficit to 21-13.
Late in the fourth quarter, a pair of deep passes from quarterback McKay Smith set up touchdowns, and the Dons cut the lead to one possession with 1:30 to play.
A late onside-kick was unsuccessful, though, and Maple Mountain ran out the clock.
Spanish Fork head coach Dustin Smith declined an interview on postgame, but offered that his team "played hard."
And in classic rivalry fashion, things boiled over postgame, with a heated verbal exchange between individuals in the handshake line.
"Emotions, that's it. These kids all know each other," Hall said of the incident. "Kids move from that school to that school, you get parents that get overly engaged in things that mean little to nothing. … We're just trying to teach our young men to be good people and drown out all the noise."
