The titan of 4A football came into Tooele looking to break the state record of 29 consecutive wins and the Buffs had a chance to play spoiler on their home field. Timpview, however, didn’t have any plans of a let down and passed their way to a 40-7 victory Friday in Tooele.

Jordan Clemente did have 133 total yards in the game with 77 rushing and 56 receiving in the losing effort. Tooele however, was hurt by the passing attack of Casey Rumsey who totaled 212 yards passing and four TDs. Travis Vanleeuwen caught three of those touchdown passes to go with his 92 yards also.

“Our kids didn’t back down the entire game,” said Tooele football coach Ray Groth. “It is tough when you play a school that can platoon players for only offense or defense. We play our players on both sides of the ball.”

Tooele looked on the verge of a defensive stop on Timpview’s opening drive. The Buffs held the Thunderbirds to a third-and-six but Vanleeuwen caught a pass on the next play for 12 yards and then went on a slant on the following play for 44-yards and the score for an early 7-0 lead.

After a Tooele three-and-out, Timpview picked up right where they left off. Right when the Thunderbirds crossed into Tooele territory Rumsey hit Travis Jorgensen for a 31-yard gain to get near the Buffalo end zone. Vanleeuwen again was found in the end zone as he made a diving catch to make the score 14-0 near the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter Chris Iorg found Travis Brady for a great 19-yard catch that gave Tooele their first sustainable drive as they neared mid-field. But a false start penalty and an incompletion on third down doomed the drive and gave the ball back to Timpview.

With just over three minutes left in the first half, Timpview again took to the air. Rumsey hit Richard Senior and Jorgensen for strikes of 10 and 25 yards respectively. Then Vanleeuwen took care of the rest with a 30-yard touchdown reception from Rumsey for the 26-0 half time lead.

“We tried to get to the quarterback to slow down the passing attack,” said Groth. “We tried blitzing during the game but their line was up to the challenge.”

In their first drive of the second half, Timpview stayed strictly with running plays. A big run by Levi Teo for 15 yards help keep the drive alive, which was enough to Rumsey to scramble in for his own rushing touchdown from 13 yards out for a 33-0 lead.

After Timpview made the lead 40-0, Tooele started to build some momentum on offense. On a third-and-short situation Milo Leakehe rumbled for a three-yard gain for the first down which proved to be huge. Because on the next play Clemente took the ensuing pitch for 68 yards and a score to make the game 40-7.

Not only was the offense showing positive signs but the defense, who was playing a decent game all night, started to get a couple takeaways. On two consecutive Timpview drives, Tooele managed to pounce on a couple fumbles.

The positive for Tooele’s defense is that they were able to keep the high-powered Timpview offense out of the end zone for the final 19 minutes of regulation. “We should be proud of the way we played against the top team in the state,” said Groth. “And we will get things ironed out in our remaining three games.”

Tooele now looks forward to their homecoming game this Friday against Payson at 7 p.m. With the loss against Timpview, the Buffs fall to 1-3 in Region 7 play.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com