Only 3 Home Games For Tiger Football

[/media-credit] Cayden Viertel carries the ball against Timpview (10/04/19).

The Orem Tiger Football Team only had three home games this year. This is the only year Orem has not played at least five home regular-season contests since 2013, where they played four home games. While the Tigers are taking on the toughest teams they have ever faced, is it worth the stress of travel and the absence of home supporters?

When asked about the small number of home games, Head Coach Jeremy Hill responded, “It was difficult you know, we had a fourth, which was Jordan, and then they pulled Jordan out of our region up to 6A so we lost that fourth one.” The Tigers played less than half of their Region VII slate at home, which included Timpanogos and Timpview, the two closest region opponents. For the other three games they had to travel to Sandy for Alta, Herriman for Mountain Ridge, and Lehi for the Pioneers. While the trip to Lehi is only 20 minutes, the treks to Herriman and Sandy both clock in at more than an hour round trip without traffic, which the Tigers often face due to their games starting at 7 pm.

“Traveling can change the whole outcome of the game. If you have a long bus ride, you can get groggy and you sometimes start out the game playing slow. You have to shake it off and focused even more before games,” replied Senior football player, Sam Yokota, when asked about the effects of travel on the team.

When addressing the fact that all preseason games were on the road, Hill replied, “We’ve had a very difficult time these last two years getting teams to play us. We were scheduled to play Provo and Timpview last year, they were on the schedule and they both pulled out on us. Our 9/27 is a bye, I can’t find anyone to come to us, I can’t find a game. Bishop Gorman was supposed to be up here, but they needed a game down there and they gave us a little bit of money so we took advantage of that. That’s the reason why.”

That incentive led to the Tigers missing school and traveling nearly 12 hours roundtrip. The Tigers need to keep Bishop Gorman happy because as Coach Hill said, they are struggling to find teams to play. The team also traveled to Pocatello, Idaho to play in a preseason tuneup game. The competition in Utah either doesn’t want to play Orem or already have full schedules.

“We obviously hope and plan to have two home playoff games so we have at least 5. But it’s kinda screwy how it’s a lot of preseason then we get three in a row at home then we’re back on the road again for two more.”

Orem could potentially match their average amount of home games with two playoff games, but that would require Murray to pull an upset over Olympus as well as the Tigers beating Brighton (both games on November 1). Since Orem received a 12 seed, a lower seed out of the new RPI UHSAA playoff system than they were used to with region record seeding, the Tigers play on the road in just the second round of the playoffs after a first round victory over Viewmont.

[/media-credit] The Tiger Student Section gets ready for the 2nd half of the Senior Night football game vs. Timpview (10/04/19).

The Tigers have high hopes, but shouldn’t have to rely entirely on their performance to be able to play in front of their friends, family, and fellow students. Yokota explained, “I don’t like having as many away games because I love playing in front of our home crowd. You’re in charge of defending your home field, and hearing the people you know in the stands cheering for you makes winning that much sweeter.”

Hill concluded with, “It’s not ideal, it’s not how I wanted it, but it’s just kinda the way it shook up. Once they pulled Jordan out we really tried to renegotiate things with the coaches and figure it out, but we weren’t having any luck and Bob [Steele, Orem’s Athletic Director] still didn’t have any luck so we kinda got stuck with the way it is.”

It seems this year that Orem got a bad shake of the dice for scheduling and that in the future it can improve with good negotiations and a little bit of luck.