Tooele fans were experiencing a case of dèjà vu in the second game of the season. For the second straight game the Buffs held a slim fourth quarter lead but unlike last time, Tooele held on to the lead to beat the visiting West Panthers 15-10 for their first win of the season.

A trio of running backs did the job for Buffs with Jordan Clemente leading the way with 86 yards, including a 52-yard touchdown run in the third. Lining up opposite of Clemente was Milo Leakehe who gained 51 yards on the ground and hauled in touchdown pass in the second quarter. Jordon Biorge rounded out the trio with 42 yards of his own from the full back position.

“Putting back-up quarterback Leakehe out on the field really helps the offense to give us another weapon,” said coach Ray Groth.

In the first quarter West started out lightning quick. Quarterback Daniel Wray led his team down the field, throwing strikes to Alex Carr and Kevin Durr for 11 and 16 yards respectively but the Buffs were able force a fumble to halt their opening drive.

However, the Panthers got the ball right back on an interception and wound up with the ball on Tooele’s 15 yard line after the interception return. With their backs against the wall the Tooele defense stood tall, not allowing West a first down and forcing them to settle for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.

After a horrible punt by West’s Carr, Tooele looked in prime position to take the lead. Biorge and Leakehe caught the West defense off-guard with of 13 and 10 yards respectively early in the drive. Leakehe had another long run in the drive, this time of 15 yards to get deep into West territory.

Tooele however appeared ready to shoot down this drive with two big penalties, and illegal block in the back and an illegal shift pushes the Buffs to a third and 22 yards to go. That didn’t get to quarterback Chris Iorg as he rolled to the left on the third down play and threw off his back foot to a wide open Leakehe for the score and to take the 7-3 lead in the second quarter.

Tooele got the ball with just over 52 seconds left in the second quarter with a chance to extend the lead before halftime. A big run by Mason Halligan for 15 yards then a 20-yard catch by Leakehe put Tooele on the West 10 yard line with 5.8 seconds left. Instead of electing to kick the short field goal, Tooele looked to push it in the end zone but a quarterback sack by West before the play could even take shape doomed the Buffaloes chances and kept the 7-3 at the half.

After Tooele fumbled on the first play from scrimmage in the second half West was left in great field position. It appeared that West was going to spoil their great field position with false start penalties. Faced with a third and 20, Wray rolled to his left and found a wide open Moises Vargas to get the lead back for West at 10-7.

The Buffs didn’t waste any time responding. Travis Brady took a pass from Iorg for 27 yards which must have made West look for the pass. While the Panthers focused on blitzing up the middle Clemente took a hand-off and used his moves for a 52-yard touchdown that quickly earned Tooele the lead back at 13-10.

Heading into the fourth the Tooele defense must of had the season opening Cyprus game fresh on their mind because this time they stepped up with a fourth quarter lead. They even tacked on two points of their own when West punter Carr fumbled the snap and kneeled down in the end zone to pick up the ball for a safety, putting the game out of field goal range for the Panthers at 15-10.

Even though the offense stalled in the fourth, the Tooele defense didn’t really need more of a cushion as they successfully shut down West in the fourth for their first victory of the season.

“As the game wore on I think our defense got better,” said Groth. “They started out nickel and diming us down the field but we soon caught on to that.”

Tooele now 1-1 will head to Ogden to play against Ben Lomond on Friday at 7 p.m.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com