American Fork earns 1st trip to 5A championship game


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SALT LAKE CITY — American Fork earned its first-ever spot in the 5A championship game after defeating Brighton 58-28 Thursday night.

“It’s going to be great,” American Fork head coach Aaron Behm said. “These kids have earned it and I’m just so excited for them.”

Brighton was plagued by turnovers all game, giving American Fork an opportunity to extend its lead early in the game. Brighton quarterback Robbie Hutchins threw five interceptions, with one being returned by American Fork free safety Ben Cummings for a 39-yard touchdown.

American Fork’s defense did a great job of positioning themselves to grab several of Hutchins’ passes and keeping a talented Brighton team from putting points on the board going into the half with a 35-14 lead.

“(The defense) stepped up big here come playoff time when we need them to, putting points on the board,” Behm said. “We couldn’t ask for anything more out of them.”

American Fork’s Coleson Worley jump started the second half for the Cavemen with an 82-yard kickoff return, extending the score to 42-14.

In the third quarter the turnovers continued as Brighton allowed a high snap to get into the end zone that was recovered by American Fork’s Brennan Cox to give the Cavemen a 52-14 lead.


We've always been the underdog this whole season. We just wanted to show that we were up there with the big dogs and that we could bring a championship back to AF.

–Zach Katoa, American Fork running back


The Cavemen were lead by senior running back Zach Katoa, who rushed for 184 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. Katoa, who has only two Division I scholarship offers from Utah State and Army, couldn’t be contained by Brighton’s defense all night as he muscled his way down the field.

“Our line was killing it and they did great,” Katoa said. “We’ve always been the underdog this whole season. We just wanted to show that we were up there with the big dogs and that we could bring a championship back to AF.”

Katoa credited the preparation leading up to the game for American Fork’s ability to stop Brighton and score a lot of points.

“Our coaches prepared us really well,” Katoa said. “We knew what the other offense was going to do and we came to play.”

American Fork advancing to the 5A championship game is the first since 1962 that they’ve appeared in any championship-level game. Since moving up to 5A, the Cavemen have never made it to the championship game; the closest they came was in 2007 when they lost to Layton High School in the semifinals.

American Fork will take on Bingham in the 5A championship game on Friday, Nov. 21 at 2:30 p.m.

“We know they’re good,” Behm said. “We know they’re big and it’s going to take our best effort to get them next week.”

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