In their first Area Game of the Week action of 2024, Lone Tree seemingly had the Orioles of Springville figured out, leading 28-12 at halftime, holding the Orioles to 134 total yards. But, the visitors in the orange, white and black proved that they still had plenty of fight left in them, ending the game on a 24-6 scoring run, defeating the home Lions 36-34 in a shocker.

The game began with Lone Tree in the driver’s seat after a Emmett Burke to Maddox Jondle pass connection for a 20-yard score to put the Lions up early. After a turnover on downs, the Lions went back to work, putting together a six-play 29-yard scoring drive that again saw a Burke to Jondle pass work to perfection for six. The first quarter would end 14-0 in favor of Lone Tree, but Springville was on the march and was able to score their first touchdown on the first play of the second quarter to draw them within eight. The Lions were able to respond, however, when Burke plunged in from two yards away to pull away once more. Teams would trade touchdowns before the half, making it a 28-12 game. A relatively uneventful third quarter saw its only score when Springville’s Mason Hoy found a hole in the Lone Tree defense to begin to erase the deficit. Going into the fourth quarter, all Lone Tree needed to do was control the ball and milk the clock, but the Orioles had different plans. They put together back-to-back scoring drives of 56 and 33 yards to give them their first lead of the game in the closing minutes. Needing to find a way to come up with a score, Emmett Burke proved he had the answer. The athletic junior was in some way responsible for all 74 yards of a drive that gave Lone Tree a 34-30 lead with just minutes remaining. Burke’s heroics would prove useless, though, as the Lone Tree defense let Luke Lansing slip through the cracks to score what would be the game-winning touchdown run from 59 yards away.

Unofficially, Lone Tree won the yardage battle 384-327. Emmett Burke led Lone Tree in passing with an 8/17 night for 166 yards and three touchdowns paired with his impressive rushing statistics of 123 yards on 21 carries for two more scores. Senior teammate Maddox Jondle finished with 18 carries for 95 yards, with four catches for 70 yards and two scores. Junior Domonic Garcia caught one of Burke’s touchdown passes, and ended his night with just 38 yards on three receptions. The victorious Orioles were led by workhorse Mason Hoy’s 32 carries for 199 yards and two touchdowns. Hoy also threw a touchdown to Conlin Rouse from two yards away. Luke Lansing had seven carries for exactly 100 yards and, of course, the game-winning score. The rest of the team recorded only 27 rushing yards.

Lone Tree Head Coach Joe Donovan joined KCII Sports postgame to talk about his team’s tough loss to Springville. “We ran into this last week. We were up 34-8 at half. We come out in the second half and let Midland go down and score and get momentum, and find ourselves in a dogfight. I think tonight they thought like last week. Again, our mistakes were costly tonight,” Donovan said.

With the loss, Lone Tree drops to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in district play, while Springville improves to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in district competition. Lone Tree will next be in action next Friday night on the road at Edgewood-Colesburg, while the Orioles play host to Midland for their homecoming game. The KCII Area Game of the Week will also have another homecoming game next Friday night, with the Columbus Wildcats hosting Highland.