The late, great industrialist Henry Ford once said, “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”

Those words might be a good mantra for the Uintah Utes football team over the next week.

Uintah fell prey to overconfidence and poor execution Friday night, losing to the Emery Spartans, 27-16 at home.

The only shining spot for the team from Vernal was the better-than-mediocre play by the defensive unit of the Utes. Throughout the game a number of blocked kicks and batted passes by Uintah saved the day from being an absolute blowout for Emery.

The loss was especially bittersweet as the Utes had waited nearly 10 months to get back under the lights of their home turf.

“We weren’t mentally ready to play this game tonight,” Utes head coach Doug Harding said of the loss to the 3-A team from Castle Dale.

Uintah was anything but ferocious on the field — and at times seemed shiftless and unable to vent their frustration on the team from Castle Dale.

The turnover battle began to be lost in the first half of the game as Ute quarterback Kalin Leyba threw two interceptions. A bobbled reception by Darek Reasch also landed squarely in the hands of Emery.

FIRST-HALF PLAY

The game began with Ute returner Maverick Lindquist receiving the ball and running it back to Uintah’s 35-yard-line. The offensive unit, led by Leyba, took over at that point but was unable to capitalize on short carries by Jarin Daggett and Colby Murray.

Defensively, the Utes were able to hold the Spartans to four-and-out on their first drive, mostly off the work of Donavan Dudley and Murray. A big deflection by Jarom Tollefson gave Emery a fourth down, forcing them to punt it away.

Leyba threw the first of his two interceptions of the first half on the next Utes drive.

The drive began well enough, with Ben Daniel returning Emery’s punt to the Uintah 30-yard-line. A small gainer by Daggett then set up a second down for the Utes.

After initially overthrowing a pass to Daniel, Leyba threw a tight spiral right into the numbers of Emery’s Nick Stoddard. Uintah’s Brayden Christensen was nearby and made the tackle at the 32-yard-line.

The Uintah defense stepped up again after the interception by Emery, with Leyba and Christian Connelly nearly picking off two Spartan passes in a row. With a fourth-and-nine play at their own 47-yard-line, Emery punted away.

When things go wrong for any football team, it is akin to Murphy’s Law — whatever can go wrong will go wrong.

Murphy’s Law was in full effect from the moment the Utes offense got the ball back.

Taking over at his own 10-yard-line, Leyba was unable to hold onto a snap from Christensen. The fumble rolled into the end zone where Leyba killed it for a safety — and an easy two points for Emery.

With the score at 2-0 in favor of the Spartans, Emery got the ball back in a big way when Quinn Montgomery ran it back into Uintah territory.

The defensive apparatus of the Utes was immune to the Murphy’s Law issue, though, and stepped up once again. With the defensive combination of Murray and Tollefson, and a huge sack by Reasch and Christensen, the Utes were able to stave off any quick points by the Spartans.

Murphy was at it again, though, when the Utes took over for their fourth offensive drive of the game — as Leyba threw his second interception to Emery’s Quinn Montgomery. Uintah’s Hunter Murray and Dylan Swearingen were there to pick up the pieces, stopping Montgomery at the 32-yard-line of the Utes.

The interceptions would have been a bigger deal to the Utes had Emery been able to score on the turnovers. Thankfully, the Utes defense was on the ball, stopping Emery once again in four snaps — and a huge sack of Emery’s Cody Jones by Daggett for a loss of 12 yards.

Regardless of Emery’s lack of ability to score on the numerous turnovers by Uintah, Harding said he wasn’t happy.

“In football it is critical to win the turnover battle. We lost that battle tonight and I’m not happy about it. You can’t have multiple turnovers and expect to win a football game,” he said.

A little silver lining showed through the clouds for Uintah, however, as Emery attempted to punt it back to the Utes.

Showing his defensive talents, Tollefson blocked the Spartan punt, allowing the Utes to take over at the 20-yard-line of Emery.

Facing a possible Uintah touchdown, the Emery defense stepped up on their own to hold the Utes to a five-yard carry by Colby Murray. That carry set up a field goal with :52 left in the first quarter by kicker Tanner Seitz. The score was 3-2 in favor of Uintah.

The Utes nearly got the ball back early after forcing a fumble by Emery’s quarterback. Emery recovered but followed up with an incomplete pass, forcing a punt back to Uintah.

The Utes’ next offensive drive saw a massive return by Ben Daniel to midfield and small gains by Colby Murray and Daggett. Those gains were wiped away, though, after Reasch bobbled a pass from Leyba. Emery’s Quinn Montgomery was there to pick it off and the Spartans got the ball back at the Emery 42-yard-line.

As the second quarter got underway, Emery put an exclamation point on their ability to come together as a team.

On the first play of their offensive possession quarterback Cody Jones threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Nick Stoddard.. A blocked PAT by Reasch made it 8-3 in favor of Emery.

Uintah came right back with a nine-play, 78-yard drive to the end zone by Leyba and the offense. A powerful 27-yard rushing gain by Daggett, combined with a one-yard rushing touchdown by Colby Murray put the Utes up 9-8 with 7:43 remaining in the first half.

The Utes defense continued to battle successfully against Emery as halftime approached, holding them to another four downs before having to punt it away.

Uintah’s offensive game began to fall apart in a serious way beginning on their next possession. An out-of-bounds bomb thrown by Leyba, combined with a penalty for blocking in the back kept the Utes from a chance at the end zone — forcing them to try for a field goal.

You could hear the breath of Uintah fans exhale as a high, arcing kick by Seitz nearly reached the goal post — but ultimately bounced off the lower bar of the uprights.

The tide shifted decisively in favor of Emery on their last drive of the half.

With four first downs in a row, for a drive of 51 yards, the Spartans were able to find the end zone on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Kashe Potter. A two-point conversion attempt failed, however, and the Spartans led 14-9 going into halftime.

SECOND-HALF ACTION

Emery began the second half on offense and delivered on their possession thanks to errors by the Uintah’s special teams.

What began as a six-play defensive stand that almost saw an interception by Jarin Daggett turned into debacle when Uintah was called for roughing Emery’s kicker on a punt. That call alone gave the Spartans a first down at the Utes 42-yard-line. Five plays and 32 yards later Emery’s Colton Fasselin rumbled in from the 10-yard line to put the Spartans up 21-9.

Uintah gave the ball up yet again in the second half as another fumbled snap between Leyba and Christensen ended up in the hands of Emery. That recovery led directly to Emery’s fourth touchdown of the night.

Emery scored again on a seven-play, 51-yard ramble that saw solid defensive play by the Utes defensive line overall. For all their defensive mettle, however, Emery made it to the end zone again on a 29-yard pass to Nick Stoddard, making the score 27-9.

SILENCE IS GOLDEN

Things really fell apart for the Utes after the touchdown as Kalin Leyba was called for unsportsmanlike conduct during the PAT. Leyba’s rant at officials on the field earned the Utes an assessment against the kickoff return team and got Leyba pulled from the offense for a drive.

For the next Uintah push, Jarin Daggett replaced Leyba at quarterback. Daggett was only able to move the offensive unit to the 25-yard-line, though, and the Utes had to punt it away.

Daggett came back impressively, however, on the defensive side of the ball. His pressure on Emery’s Cody Jones was a big part of the Utes defense. The defense held the Spartans to 24 yards on their drive and forced them to punt it away after running Jones out of bounds.

On a fourth-and-two play at their own 29-yard-line, the Utes might have have whimpered out for the evening on a keeper by Leyba that went nowhere. Emery was called, however, on that play for a facemask violation. That gave the Utes a first down and a shot at the end zone.

Leyba and his teammates finally put the pieces together in the final minute of the game with a 16-yard reception by Colby Murray — and another 16-yard reception, this time for a touchdown, by senior Jordan Copeland.

With a good PAT to go with it, Copeland’s TD gave the Utes another seven to add to the board. A failed onside kick attempt by Uintah delivered the ball back to Emery with :20 remaining in the game.

The Spartans took a knee and ended the night with a 27-16 victory.

“This was poor execution. We’re going to prepare for next week by watching film and getting ready for them. We’re going to concentrate on Dixie and a win,” Harding said after the game.

Uintah (1-1) plays Dixie (0-2) of St. George this Friday at Snow College in Ephraim. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.