Trailing 14-7 after the first quarter, Tooele surrended important field position in the second quarter on a fumble and a punt return to make the Bruins need to drive only 35 yards each time for their third and fourth scores.

The two short touchdowns buried the Buffaloes 28-7 at intermission and Tooele could not catch up as Mountain View added two more touchdowns in the third quarter to roll to a 42-21 victory.

“Mountain View was more physical than we antcipated and we couldn’t adjust,” said Tooele head coach Ray Groth. “We showed up with complacency I thought. The kids figured that since they had beaten Orem they could just show up and win against Mountain View. The players were overwhelmed at the start of the game and in a league this strong you really have to be tough mentally to compete.”

The coach said the Bruins were similar to West as far a physical play, a team Tooele defeated on Aug. 29.

Mountain View’s Anthony Hemuli broke free on a long run during the first series of the game to put the Bruins up 7-0. Mountain View then drove 40 yards in two plays on its next possession thanks to a 36 yard halfback pass to make it 14-0 only six minutes into the game.

Tooele battled back with an 80-yard drive to slice the lead to 14-7 with 3:30 left in the first quarter.

Jordan Clemente picked up 12 yards on a run to the Tooele 33, and then Chris Iorg lobbed a short pass to Jordon Biorge who broke several tackles and punished defenders on his way to the Mountain View 31. Clemente and Biorge posted three more positive runs and then quarterback Chris Iorg lofted a 16-yard touchdown pass to Clemete in stride to give the Buffaloes their only touchdown of the night.

“Depth is a real issue for us and our program. I’ve coached 3A, 4A and 5A and jumping from 3A to 4A is a big jump. The players really have to raise the bar another level and be stronger mentally,” Groth said.

The veteran mentor was pleased that his team rallied from the early 14-0 deficit to slice the lead to 14-7.

“We wanted to throw the ball more, but we had no pass blocking,” he said.

Later in the game, Milo Leakehe came on to replace Iorg at quarterback.

“Chris (Iorg) is just a great kid. He’s doing a good job for us this season after only having played last year as a backup quarterback on the junior varsity,” Groth said.

Mountain View’s final two touchdowns came on a 42-yard run by Hemuli and a 32-yard run by T.J. Mounga.

Tooele’s Biorgi rushed 10 times for 82 yards while Clemente rushed seven times for 70 yards.

Tooele travels to Springville on Friday to play against the Devils’ spread offense. “Four of our opponents so far use the spread offense so we’re a little better at defending that type of offense,” Groth said.

The Buffaloes are now 3-2 on the season and 1-1 in Region 7.

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com