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AMERICAN FORK — In a battle of prehistoric times, the American Fork Cavemen came out on top of the West Panthers 20-13.
Each team came out fired up and the energy was felt throughout the stadium as players whooped and hollered after nearly every play. But within the first few minutes after kickoff, officials had to call head coaches Aaron Behm of American Fork and Olosaa Solovi of West to midfield to shut down some of the trash talking and offensive words being thrown around.
Putting a damper on all the players' talk seemed to affect each team's ability to run its offense, too.
Throughout the first half, each team only came close to the end zone once. With a little less than five minutes to go in the half, American Fork quarterback Champion Edwards hit tight end Josh Andrus for a short pass that had him stretching for the end zone. Upon impact with the ground, Andrus fumbled the ball and it was picked up by West's defense.
On West's ensuing drive, quarterback Isaiah Suesue completed multiple passes that led his team down the field. But a touchdown pass to wide receiver Viliata Tua'one was called back for offensive holding.
Both teams struggled to do anything with the ball in the first half and the teams went into the locker room with the Cavemen on top 3-0.
"It's good to be able to win in a couple of different ways," Behm said. "And this was a tough battle, and we needed the defense to be able to step up. And they totally did that with the shutout in the first half."
Normally a team that relies on a high-scoring offense, the Cavemen relied on the strength of their defense Friday night. It showcased American Fork's ability to win on both sides of the ball.
In the second half, each team seemed to wake up a bit and used that fire they had before the game. In the third quarter, the Cavemen turned the tide of the game in a huge way within the span of about two minutes.
Nearing the red zone, American Fork drew up a trick play that featured Edwards handing off to slot receiver Jace Hull on what appeared to be a sweep run. Hull took a couple steps then stopped and lobbed a pass to uncovered receiver Trey Roberts for a touchdown.
"Hull has been running that throw since he was a sophomore on the sophomore level and he was backup quarterback coming up through," Behm said. "And so when we got in the red zone, we knew we wanted to come away with points, and Jace did a great job executing that throw to Trey."
On West's first play of the next drive, Suesue scrambled on a quarterback run and fumbled. The ball was scooped up by American Fork linebacker Tyson Eggett and returned 32 yards for another touchdown. At that point, the Cavemen led 17-0 with only a few minutes left in the third quarter.
"I just saw my D-lineman hit (Suesue) and the ball just popped right in front of me," Eggett said. "So I just grabbed it and ran. It was pretty easy."
The Panthers were down but not out.
On two of West's next three drives, Suesue led his team to touchdowns, moving down the field with a combination of powerhouse runs from his running backs and himself and quick passes to his receivers.
West's second touchdown came with just over two minutes left in the game, which led to the team trying a squib kick in a futile attempt to get the ball back one more time. American Fork's offense did just enough to be able to run out the clock the rest of the game.
"It was a battle," Behm said. "It was a fun football game. We knew West was gonna be tough; they're big, they're physical, and it was a tight ball game."
The Cavemen welcome Rigby High (Idaho) to American Fork next week, while West takes on Cyprus at home.
